View Points
by GalaxyDancer
Summary: It's the year 2250. You have to ask yourself . . . is thirteen years really that long? Or could everything change? No ZADR. Chapter 7 up.
1. Escape

**Chapter One**

**Escape**

: J :

The sky was gray. All of the once beautiful trees were wilting to the ground, bare of leaves, nothing but cold skeletons of branches. The sun was completely blocked out by the constant supply of clouds. Yet, even after all these years in the dark, even after half of the lovely planet had been detonated, we still lived.

There were few of us. So few that one could laugh at the number. The others, the ones who were enslaved, had long ago given up hope of being rescued. It was thirteen years ago that all of this could have been prevented; that things could have been turned around. But that was only if anybody had cared to listen to one special boy who knew the truth. Only one person against an entire army, and he had lost.

By the time the rest of the race found out, it was far too late to do anything. They were here. Nothing could stop them. And those who tried were carelessly shredded by lasers, and the remains tossed aside like trash. The race that overtook Earth were ruthless, brutal, ambitious creatures that went from planet to planet seizing all they desired. Their "invaders", the trained soldiers who were to take over the planets single-handedly, were too much of a match for Earth's supply of resistance.

And now the humans have lost all hope. Nobody believes things can still be turned around. Nobody believes in change. The humans are an enslaved race of worthless Earthenoids who are constantly pushed around by the Irken race. To the Irkens, they are nothing but creatures that operate machines. The planet has mostly been turned into the manufacturing of technology, study of quantum virus cures, and mining of gems. Only the lucky ones are selected to create new technology, and the majority of them are Japanese.

There are a group of thirty-seven who take small steps of resistance against the Irkens, the only ones who oppose. We are known as "They Fight" by the common human slaves, but simply "the resistance" by the Irkens themselves. News of our attacks spreads quickly throughout the planet. Many Irkens have personally witnessed our wrath, and so far very few live to tell the tale. We leave our mark wherever we strike, making sure that all will know and cower in fear at the mention of our name.

We consist of mostly foolish "Americans", those rebellious, energetic people. Of the Americans, there are African Americans, Caucasians, Orientals, Hispanics, and our commander. As for the rest of us, we are Japanese. The Japanese have increased in numbers since the arrival of the Irken Armada. But to total all of the numbers, that only makes thirty-six.

You see, I am the exception of the mighty Irken race. I am the one and only individual that exists due to a certain emotion experiment with Pak Tech. And so I joined "They Fight" to show the Tallest their wrongs. Forgive me if a few misleading words slip past my lips (I am still Irken at heart) such as "pathetic" when describing the humans, and "mighty" when describing my people. Those mistakes are few and far between. Because as far as I am concerned, the Irkens will lose this battle. And the humans shall be free once again. Of course, there is one slight flaw in my joining They Fight. And I will find out the magnitude of that problem later on.

That problem is that They Fight and their commander do not know what I am. My Pak is able to generate holographic images that can totally remake my appearance. And during the time I am in sight of They Fight, I am just another foolish girl ready to take on the aliens and save the Earth. I am "white", have dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a thin figure. People have called this appearance "lovely", or "beautiful". I am not quite sure if I am okay with this, but altering the image now could give away my secret.

Despite living among them, working with them, even pretending to "sleep" near them, I still keep my distance. I never wish to become too friendly with the humans, for I plan to return to Irk as soon as my mission is complete. But that could take a long time, perhaps many more years than it already has. And I still have to put up with these beige and brown things. Why I am trying to save them, I have no idea. But hopefully something will result from all this. After it is over, I plan to rid the universe of this one human named "David". He is the most annoying of them all. I am against killing the innocent, but as far as I am concerned, he is no innocent for what he has put me through. From here on, I shall never speak to him again.

"Hey, Jiss."

I sighed, seeing him walking right towards me. "Hey, David. Got any news from Commander?"

David shrugged. The usual, it seemed. "Not much. He says he's thinking of stealing some more tech, maybe a few computers. And he's also considering taking the latest Pak advances. So what about you, what's been going on?"

Feeling annoyed already just being asked about my life, I said, "Nothing, David. Why don't you understand that I don't like you?" I saw David smile, oh that hideous smile. I could tell he was going to say something stupid, as always, just to force me to take action.

"I understand you don't like me. I just like torturing you, that's all."

I snorted. "Buzz off," I demanded, a term that I had heard many times. I had picked up Earth slang from my time spent here, which the last time I counted has been about four and a half years. Of course, the invasion started long before I came along.

"Why?"

Suddenly and without warning, I turned around and slapped David across the face, something else I had seen that females do to annoying males. I was not sure the situation called for it, but even if it didn't, this could repay him for all the times that it did.

"Bitch!" he cursed at me. He took a few steps back from me.

I said nothing in response. It was stupid to talk with David; he never said anything or did anything that helped. Mostly, he only goofed off. I told myself he wasn't worth doing anything more to. He was going to be destroyed, hopefully.

-----

It was nighttime. I was in my tent. "They Fight" always slept in tents, for we were a traveling resistance with no true base. The idea seemed quite foolish, but at the same time, pure genius. Knowing the Irkens as I did, it was just the kind of thing to throw them off. No Irken has heard of a traveling base before, and it was likely the whole thing would seal their doom. Already they were confused by how we seemed to disappear from one of our previous locations, which they had attacked all for nothing.

This night was one that I would fear more than others. Tonight was the marker for two months having passed since the last time I recharged my Pak, which meant at midnight the bi-monthly energy pattern would be shut down completely and I would die if I didn't recharge it again. The process took no more than three hours to complete, so if I began at nine o'clock, there would be plenty of time. I could use a temporary mini-Pak microchip to keep me going while the real Pak was recharging.

Looking from side to side to be sure I was truly alone, I reached my hands behind my back and carefully detached my Irken Utility Pak from it's connection to my body. Almost instantly, the hologram disappeared and the mechanical tentacles released from being wrapped around me, revealing who I was.

Compared to my human disguise, I was short. I was about the normal height for an Irken, not too short, but not tall enough to be of any great importance. I was simply one of the invaders.

As I hooked my Pak into a portable perpetual energy generator, an alarm went off. I heard everybody gathering their equipment and running out of their tents. We were under attack again! The Irkens had found our latest location!

I saw David's shadow on my tent walls. He ran closer, and opened the tent fast as lightening, yelling, "The Irkish are coming! The Irkish are coming!" like an idiot. But right when his eyes made contact with mine, I saw his pupils collapse into tiny specs. His breathing ceased for a moment as he took the time to stare at me.

"David, wait, don't panic!" I cried, trying to reason with him. I had to make him understand! "It's not what you think! It's me, Jiss!"

"Oh God!" he cried. "It's one of _them!_" He stood up and backed away, pulled out a weapon, and fired at the tent before I could say a word. I felt the sting as a laser singed my heart, but though I was overtaken with pain, the blast did not kill me. If my Pak was still intact, and if I could only reach it and reattach it, I would live. The Pak was the Irken brain. The Pak was the _Irken._ It could repair any damaged part of the worthless body, but when hurt itself, there was no hope of survival.

I looked down for a moment, and saw the damage he had done. A small hole went through me, perfect and round. I felt sick as I looked through myself, only to see the tent wall behind. The lasers we had acquired did exceptional damage. Then my attention was redirected as I spotted the Pak. It was unharmed, missed only by millimeters by shier luck!

I turned and reached out my arm to take it, but was forced to keep it close to my chest because of the pain. I slowly crawled to my feet and took a few steps, only to collapse to the floor. But there it was, right in front of me! My Pak! Knowing I didn't have the strength to reach for it, I turned around so my back would face it. The amazing Pak was remote-activated and detached from recharging and connected to me once more, sending amazing energy through my body.

The Pak had gained enough energy already to keep me alive for about a week, which was enough for it to repair me. The process had already begun, I realized, looking at my chest to see the hole having wires running up and down it to create artificial walls. The last of the view of the back side of the tent disappeared as one final wire closed off the tiniest of a space.

I stood up once more as the pain went away, and the mechanical tentacles wrapped around my waist. They traveled down my legs and continued past my feet, raising me into the air. They suddenly stopped and the hologram appeared, showing me as I would normally look, only in battle attire. I mentally activated my shield, which enclosed me in an invisible skin-tight bubble that could not be penetrated by any force. Few Irkens had the shield advancement downloaded to their Paks because the shield tech was the last "newest" Pak tech we stole.

Grabbing my laser weapon, not unlike David's, I ran out of the tent and looked to the sky. There they were, in the top Irken designs for Irken fighter crafts. The best of the best, and ironically, we had better. I decided on a pilot, took aim, and without another thought fired. The laser beam shot into his upper middle, slicing through his Pak. He fell from the fighter to the ground and the craft remained hovering in mid air, waiting for us to steal it after the battle was over.

I spied David about ten yards away. He was busy shooting at everything that moved in the sky, including a few innocent birds startled by the commotion. What a dope. I shook my head at his stupidity.

He looked in my direction for a moment, firing at something above my head. He was about to turn back to the battle, but caught sight of me and looked as if he were going to faint. For a moment I wasn't sure what was wrong with him. Was I still noticeable? Had my Pak added something, or forgotten something about my holographic disguise?

My question was answered when he ran over to me, shouting, "Jiss! You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But we can talk later." I suddenly saw a fighter taking aim at us. "LOOK OUT!" I screamed, pushing him aside and allowing the bright red beam to hit me. I noticed for a moment the pilot looked victorious, but after the beam disappeared and he saw I was still alive, energetic, and unharmed, he didn't look so smug. In fact, he looked frightened. In the time he was staring with his mouth open, I fired a few shots at him myself, and one of them hit the side of his arm. He could no longer pilot the fighter.

The shooting continued for a while, until the Irkens felt satisfied they had done enough damage and left. By then, our camp was a horrible wreck. The majority of our tents and personal items were in ruins, but thankfully the technology was all still safe due to us converting the Pak's shield into just a basic shield. It surrounded all of the tech we stole.

Last, and probably the best news, all thirty-seven of us responded to role-call. There would be no renumbering after this battle, which had been happening a lot lately. Believe it or not, we began as "They Fight: The Five Hundred", but realizing the number would slowly decrease, we changed it to just "They Fight". Thirty-seven were left after six years of battling. We were only lucky it was not something like fourteen.

: Z :

I never would have guessed I would be the Irken selected as a spy, and that I was to leave in less than two days. It was such an honor, the Tallest actually allowing me to do something of some importance. I had heard them laughing about how I would fail because of the power of "They Fight", but I knew better. I would succeed! At last, I would not be shunned as I had been for the past ten years. Things were going to change for the better, and it would all begin with me!

For almost a decade I had been isolated to an institution that held only seven other Irkens, four of which were those who were believed to be of my own inferiority, but seeing them and comparing them to my intelligence I had to disagree. The fifth was called none other than Boss, for the reason that she watched over all five of us closely, talking with us daily and working with us to perhaps "correct the problem", which I found I was the only one without. There were two others, and they both worked in offices away from the likes of us. When we got into trouble, we were sent to a horribly kind Irken named Kraak. He basically told us not to misbehave again, patted us on the head, and gave us a treat. The very thought of him sickened me. Last, there was Lonny, also known as "Mom" by the four others. She took care of all the special things like handing out the medicine (which I only stored in my pocket then later disintegrated instead of actually eating), letting us "play" with technology, computers and crafts, and occasionally giving us presents if we had been good.

The entire facility was a weak, worthless, pathetic excuse for living quarters. I hated it, and everybody in it. Words like "horrible", "putrid", and "insane" do not even begin to describe the average day here. It was just freaky! But now I was getting out of here to go on a top secret mission like I so deserved, and I could care less if They Fight discovered an Irken fighter craft, came here, and blasted this place into nothing but a pile of ashes. In fact, I would request to watch them, perhaps even help them if I could get away with it. I would be laughing the entire time at the screams and cries from these deluded, mixed up half-Irkens. I call them half-Irkens because in my eyes, they were not Irken at all. They put the Irken name to shame, so I dare not call them that which has struck fear into the hearts of billions. They didn't deserve it.

Now to take us to where this began. It was mid-day; about the time us five "defectives" (which _I_ was only called by mistake) ate lunch. I was sitting off by myself, away from the four others. I felt they were not worthy to be anywhere near me. Now funny thing about the food here: it was obviously just another way of control. After scanning it the very first day I was here, my Pak had detected traces of Irken microchip power signatures within. This was the reason I never ate the horrible _klokid_ that should be ashamed to call itself food. I got my energy another way: by recharging my Pak every two weeks instead of once every two months. True, the electric bill most likely soared after my arrival, but Boss, Kraak and Lonny had not figured out why yet.

Anyway, there I sat, dismal, depressed, poking at the familiar goop on my tray. Usually I seemed more stoic than depressed, but my time here was beginning to open my eyes to just how impossible escape seemed. Day by day, night by night I thought up ways to get out of here, but never found the answer. My Pak was little help, because using it for almost anything would give away that it was equipped with far superior tech than most. If Boss found out, she would probably have my Pak re-engineered, which would make escape as likely as my hopes of They Fight destroying this place becoming reality.

On television was Intergalactic At Five, the universe's most watched news broadcast station. A Clorothean woman named Sites was reporting about They Fight's latest attack. They had stolen new Pak tech, this time the shield tech the Japanese had designed to keep Irkens protected from They Fight's advanced lasers. Now the humans had to start all over on the project. This information made me at least smile. I hated the humans, every last one of them. It was their fault I was in here.

"In other news, the four and a half year-long search for Invader Jiss has lead the Irkens virtually nowhere. Irk's top invader, Jiss, went missing on her trip to Earth, where she was to retrieve and transport Earth's top scientists to Vort for continued research on "Pak Tech". But after her arrival, she was not heard from again, and no evidence pointing to where she may be has been found. Detectives are still searching for clues, though many have already given up. Now to Grunder with our top story today."

I was back to my usual, uncaring mood after seeing the news, which always kept me unemotional. I thought of Jiss, Irk's "top invader" they had called her. She was most likely the best right under me. I had been better than any other invader in the squad! If it hadn't been for the humans, it could have stayed that way. But they just had to interfere. To go into some detail, one Earth smeet in particular had interfered, and now he was the leader of They Fight. My only regret about going one-on-one with him at the end was that I did not kill him like I thought I did. I had nearly forgotten his name by now, something like Dim . . . Bid . . . Dib! That's right, his name had been Dib. Dib, that horrible creature. I hated him more than I hated every half-Irken in this facility.

Thinking out loud, I said his name to be sure I had it right. It sounded right to me. But speaking attracted Boss's attention. She walked over to me and sat down next to me, making me feel uncomfortable. But of all seven of them here, she was the only one who seemed to have a clue about how I felt. Perhaps if They Fight really did destroy this place, I could save her to take with me to Earth. Earth was where I would go if I got the chance, so I could kill Dib.

"What is Dib?" she asked me. Looking into her eyes, I saw that they were blank, as if she were not really here. I knew that look. When she had that look, it meant she did not want to talk, and everything I said would vibrate to one antennae and bounce off the other. Of course, it was not always like this. Sometimes she actually paid attention, but the times she did were few and far apart. As I thought about how to explain in a way she would not understand, she seemed to grow more interested. She lost the dismal stare and looked at me as an actual person, which made me feel slightly important.

"Dib is just somebody I used to know," I answered. I was still debating whether to go on about the matter. If I did, I might have to repeat everything to Kraak and Lonny so they could document it and put it on my record. And I knew from past experiences that Boss would not simply keep what I said secret, for I had asked her to once before and the very next day I was asked about the matter by Lonny.

"Go on," she demanded kindly, urging me to continue. "What _about_ Dib? Was he somebody who you were friends with? Was he somebody you disliked? You can tell me, I won't tell anybody. I promise."

"Sure," I mumbled under my breath, recalling the last time she had promised to keep one of my many secrets. I saw her give me a questioning look at my saying this word. I sighed and looked at my feet. I did not wish to talk any more about Dib.

There was a pause. "What's wrong, Zim?" Boss asked me. She put her arm around me, trying to raise my spirit, but even after all these years she didn't get that I hated being touched. I leaned away from her slightly, pulling her with me. She was going to force me to talk, like she had many times before. She once bugged me to the point of me having to use my Pak's mechanical spider legs to push her away from me and out of my quarters.

"Nothing," I lied. Trying to stay calm and get through to her, I said to her like she was an idiot, "Do not touch me, please. I do not like it. Okay?" I saw her smile. She believed I was just playing with her when I sounded out every word I said, but in reality I was not. She never seemed to understand. If the universe's survival depended upon how well she listened to me, then I could guarantee that all hope was lost.

"Come on, Zimmy," she said quietly. Calling me "Zimmy" always made me mad. I hated that nickname. And this was just another thing she thought I enjoyed that I didn't. I knew she meant well, but she really needed to get a clue. I hated being touched, I hated being called Zimmy, and I hated the half-Irken Joyis. Boss always said I liked Joyis, who was just one of the four other claimed "defectives". Personally, I saw her to be more like me than anybody I have ever met, but the one thing wrong with her was that she liked having friends and talking about her emotions. It drove me crazy listening to her!

"I don't want to talk about it," I said. "So just go away, please." Now I saw Lonny coming over to us. This was not good. I hated it when she talked with me, because of the way she always tried to make me smile. But as she came closer, I saw that she did not have that sweet, caring approach she usually had. She looked serious this time, a way I had hardly ever seen her. I thought she would say something to me, but instead, she whispered something to Boss. Boss looked surprised, but not in a happy way.

"You're joking, right?" she asked Lonny. I realized that something was wrong, and whatever it was, it was big. Boss looked as if she had been struck across the face. She glanced at me, confused, as if I had something to do with the conversation. Looking at her eyes, she almost seemed sad. It was like she just heard that I was leaving or something, but according to the Control Brains, I was to stay here for another eighty-four years, so I scratched the possibility instantly.

"I . . . I think we should talk," she told me. Her attitude raised my curiosity. It was so strange seeing her like this. The last time she was this upset was when I became so angered with her that I fired a few aimless laser shots in her direction, barely missing her antennae. Of course, I had been sent to Kraak, and he had talked with me about using weapons in the institute. I falsely agreed not to do it again, and he sent me back to my quarters with a Glarberry. It was very weird.

We both got up and she led me into Kraak's office, followed by Lonny. I sat down in a chair in front of the main desk and waited for them to tell me the news, whatever it was. Kraak was sitting at his desk as he pulled out some paperwork. He handed three of the papers to Boss, and she handed them to me. I began reading the Irken writing to myself. It hardly made any sense, talking about the Almighty Tallest requesting a spy be sent to They Fight's newest base. To me, it was just something else that would end up on Intergalactic At Five. The chosen spy would most likely be obliterated by They Fight; no one Irken could think to go alone and survive the attack of thirty-six trained human soldiers commanded by Dib.

"Zim," said Kraak, getting my attention. I glanced up at him, forgetting the gibberish I held in my hands. He looked more serious than Lonny and Boss put together, I realized, and he was staring right at me. This confirmed it; something was going on. Something was happening, and it appeared I was the last to find out. I gulped, hoping it was nothing of horrible outcome.

Kraak took in a deep breath. "The Almighty Tallest feel They Fight has become a threat. They have requested that a spy be sent to They Fight's current location to steal back Pak Tech and gather some information. Not for a second did any of us think that that Spy would be here with us right now until we heard the news."

I looked over at Boss and Lonny. The way Boss seemed to have tears in her eyes as she looked at me gave me a hint the spy would be either her or Lonny. It seemed a great miracle that one of them would be leaving. That was one less half-Irken to bug me about talking. Finally, it seemed things were changing for the better. _If only we could make this permanent,_ I preyed.

"Zim," Kraak said to make me pay attention once more, "The Tallest have personally requested you by name. Are you willing to take this mission?"

I almost fell out of my chair. I dropped the papers I had been holding and my mouth hung open. This could not be, there was some mistake. There was no way that I would be rescued from this horrid place in such an instant. And especially by the Tallest. They hated me! How did this happen? It made no sense.

"I know this is hard for you," said Boss, "but if you don't go, it could mean the end of Irken control over the human race. We could lose Earth to its native inhabitants."

I heard her. I heard every word she said to me. And I smiled. This was amazing! I really was the spy chosen to infiltrate They Fight's base! If I ever got the chance to see the Tallest again, I would be on my knees thanking them for letting me leave. I stood up and walked over to Kraak's desk. I was smiling.

"Yes," I said, "I accept the mission. When do I leave?"

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

Okay, I don't own Invader Zim, blah blah all that. Now that I have that taken care of . . .

We have introduced the two main characters in this chapter: Zim and Jiss. Zim, obviously, after the invasion, was sent to IDR Facility 3. You'll find out why much later on in the story. In fact, all the way in Part Three.

If you haven't read this, then trust me . . . you'll love it. If you have, please don't say anything that might give away anything. And, starting next week, I'm going to add a chapter every Friday until I get caught up . . . and then go from there. So there's another reason to love Fridays! Yay!

For those of you looking for a comical story, this one isn't right for you, though it does have a little humor. For those of you looking for ZADR or any slash, I suggest you leave as well. For those of you looking for mushy-gushy romance, I suggest you leave also . . . unless you consider a distant relationship to be mushy-gushy. I don't. For those of you looking for a strange, unique, out-there sci-fi drama about the battle for Earth that reveals bits and pieces of the shattered past of the main characters . . . then this story is just right for you. I'll be looking forward to constructive comments, if you have any to offer.


	2. The Nightmare

**Chapter Two**

**The Nightmare**

: J :

It was a cold night after the battle. Everybody had to sleep on the hard, bumpy surface of Earth without cover. This made me slightly uneasy, knowing I was exposed and without my portable perpetual energy generator. How would I survive? It seemed impossible unless we went on another mission within the next week or so. And because we now had no quarters to retreat to, my hologram would have to stay on every minute, which would eat up more of my Pak's power than usual. I couldn't even shut it off for a few moments to stretch my legs, which became sore after awhile from being so tightly wrapped with mechanical tentacles.

As I lay there, covered only with a singed sheet I had found near where my tent had been, which was likely part of the tent itself, I looked up at the sky and thought about how all of this began. It was said an Irken invader was exiled to Earth as punishment, but he ended up conquering it. After three years, the Massive arrived at Earth, having conquered all other planets that were marked for conquest. The Tallest took over the place and sent the foolish little invader to an IDR, an Irken Defective Recovery facility. I had heard that he was previously put on trial before two Control Brains during an Irken Existence Evaluation, and had for a short while been found a Defective, but his Pak's information drove the Brains insane and they let him go as "the most amazing Irken ever". It was these same two Brains that referred him to the IDR instead of allowing the Tallest to kill him.

Yes, what a mess that little invader had created. Everything that was happening on Earth was his fault. If he were here right now, he could see what torture the humans were enduring because of his existence - it was horrible. My people were all over the place, watching the humans, yelling commands at them, hurting them . . . I couldn't stand it. That was why I had joined They Fight: to open my race's eyes to the wrong in what they were doing. I can understand taking control, but not completely enslaving.

My attention was diverted as I caught a glimpse of something in the sky. It was a sparkle, like a little light that flickered. It was obvious what the light was, considering the clouded atmosphere never revealed stars in the sky anymore: some foreign object entering the Earth's atmosphere. But whenever anything came through the atmosphere, it was bad, be it a meteor or Irken fighter craft.

I sat up and felt for a button on my Pak that would sound an alarm so all of They Fight would be aware of the threat. I found it, but only kept my hand close to it. I was not sure whether to push it yet. After a few moments, I could actually begin to make out the thing. It was falling straight for us, whatever it was. As it came closer and closer, my finger inched nearer and nearer to the button. At last, I could see what it was. But it looked like nothing I had ever seen before. It had a round shape with a semi-circle windshield, and it had two oval pods attached to the sides. It was pink and purple. I was sure this was not Irken tech, so I relaxed and put my hand down. This thing was no threat.

Then it hit me. This thing was going to collide with our base of operations in less than a few seconds! There was no time to evacuate everybody, and the only other way to stop it . . . _I_ had to do it. I stood up and turned my back to the thing as my Pak shot out four large tentacle-like tubes that flew into the air right at the little ship. They attached to it, and almost instantly the force from the ship falling caused me to lose my balance and fall. But the tentacles did not let go. They pushed against it harder and harder, slowing it more and more.

My Pak was using up its strength fast, but I couldn't give up. The ship was almost to the ground now! Just push against it a little more . . . a little harder. It continued to slow, now falling no more than ten miles per hour. The tentacles pushed against it just a tad more, and then were sucked back into my Pak faster than lightening as the ship collided with the ground. There was little sound, amazingly, and the rest of They Fight was still asleep.

The ship was still intact. It was scratched somewhat, and one of the pods had a hole in it that revealed circuits and wires, but it was intact. Curious, I stood up and walked over to it. _Perhaps it's empty,_ I thought, considering it seemed motionless. Then the windshield suddenly slid up, startling me. I backed away a few feet. Out hopped a tiny robot, one of the older SIR models. It looked like a piece of junk except for one obviously new addition, which was an energy belt. Why an outdated SIR unit would be flying a piece of trash like this was beyond me. There was no connection.

Something else moving in the ship caught my attention. I looked back at the ship, and I saw a rather short Irken climb out of it. He was in Invader attire.

I gasped. I was about to cry out that an enemy had landed, but suddenly the Invader noticed me and a robotic tentacle shot out of his Pak and covered my mouth. I tried to pry it off, but I realized he had the same Pak Tech advancements I did. We had both cheated on Vortian technology. But though we had something in common, I wasn't about to let the enemy walk into our headquarters without sounding an alert.

"Tell me where to find They Fight," he demanded. Of course I could not talk, which he realized. He smiled. Out of his Pak came another tentacle, this one with some clamping contraption at the end. It attached to my head and energy surged through me. I felt like I had stuck my finger into an electrical outlet! I was being fried, literally! But then, it stopped. My vision was doubled temporarily, spinning, but slowly cleared to show the Invader pushing buttons on a little remote. I couldn't tell what was on its screen, but it was something like a thought-reader that was displaying my mind's answer to his question.

"Ha!" he said. "You're one of them! This _is_ They Fight's current location!"

I struggled to get the tentacles off of me. I hated being touched by Pak Tech that wasn't my own. Mentally, I thought as loud as I could, "I am Irken! I am Irken!" I continued sending the same exact message, hoping his little remote thingy would read it for him. Being Irken, I knew how to send mental messages as fast as lightening. Our Paks were operated through mental commands, which was how we were able to react faster than humans blink.

The Invader looked confused as he read the remote's screen. "You're Irken?" he asked me. "But Irkens don't join rebellion groups against their own race!"

"I _am_ Irken!" I yelled in my mind. "I am only in disguise! I am here to infiltrate They Fight's base of operations and gather information! Trust me!"

"Nice try," he said aloud, "But the Tallest have chosen _me_ as their spy. Your mistake in making up your little human story was that _you_ are not here to infiltrate They Fight's base; _I_ am."

I almost lost my balance at hearing this. The Tallest themselves had sent a spy? But why one of the shorter Irkens? Everybody knew that the taller Irkens were always more suited for secret missions than the shorter ones! But what confused me more was his voice, his appearance, his structure . . . it all seemed so familiar for some reason. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew I had seen him before.

I saw him reading the thoughts that were streaming through my mind. I suddenly realized my mistake of thinking about the matter. His eyes lost their death glare as he scrolled back over the information my mind had handed to him. He looked amazed.

"You . . . you really _are_ Irken, aren't you?" he asked me. I nodded. "And you're really here to spy on They Fight?" This time I didn't answer. I only looked at my feet. But still, I tried to think about where I had seen this invader before. Everything about him rang a bell, but nothing was clear enough. I had probably met him somewhere before Earth was enslaved, but after four and a half years on this spinning dirt ball I was trying to save, things in my past were becoming harder and harder to remember.

Suddenly I felt the tentacles release me from their grasp, mind-reader and all. I rubbed my head where it had been clamped. Looking up from the ground, I saw his face. He appeared not quite upset with me, but altogether sad. It was strange seeing an Irken sad. I never had before, so this was a first for me.

"Then . . . my mission was a fake?" he asked me quietly. I saw his eyes shimmer with tears. "I have to leave? I have to go back to . . . _them?_"

"Who?" I asked, curious. He acted as if he was part of the race enslaved: broken-hearted, miserable, and just giving up on life. I wanted to know why.

He gulped. "The . . . IDR."

: Z :

I felt as if I were going to burst into tears at any second. Here I had thought for at least a week that I had been chosen by the Almighty Tallest themselves to come to Earth and take out They Fight before they could do any more damage. But the reality was that it was all a joke, and I was the person the joke had been played on. It . . . it hurt. It hurt my emotions terribly. How could they do such a horrible thing? It was . . . horrible! And now, because of them, I would be forced to return to the IDR, to Boss and Lonny and Kraak, and have to deal with their constant supervision. It was humiliating to be anywhere near them. I knew not what creatures trained them to be the way they were, but whatever had, it must be equally as horrible.

I felt panic forming inside of me. I couldn't go back, I just couldn't! It wasn't right! There was no way I was ever returning to that Hell institute! If I was to live as a person and not some pet Canfram, I had to hide! And Earth was the one place nobody would ever look. The Tallest surely believed They Fight had killed me by now, so I was safe from their eyes. But as for the other Irkens who were in charge of this planet, I was not sure. I had to take my chances.

"Irken warrior," I addressed the Irken standing before me, "you must help me! I can't go back there! Keep me here with you, and I'll assist you!"

"But I thought your mission was to spy on us," she pointed out. True, this was my mission, but I had to keep my priorities in order. _I_ came first, everything else came second. That was how it went.

"It is," I answered, "But seeing that there is no other choice, I've changed my mind about listening to the Tallest. I have figured out that they will send me back there. They will watch my every move! You have to let me stay here, at least until . . . until . . . until I can come up with a better plan." I saw her think about it. No! She was going to turn me in! Tell one of the Irken officers about my going against the Tallest's commands. It was not fair! How could I have let this happen? How?

She reached out her hand to me as she stood up. "Fine," she answered. "Come with me. We can help each other." She was not going to expose me? I was safe here? Good news, yes, but I still wasn't sure I could trust her. After all, some humans can manipulate Irken technology. She could have been lying about being Irken. Looking into her eyes, I noticed the shadow had a dull red tint to it, a sure sign she was as Irken as I was. And if _I_ was not Irken, it was certainly news to me. You see, Irken eyes give off a certain wavelength of light, something that can only be seen by other Irkens. I am not sure how it differs from human sight, but I do know that it shows through any method of disguise. Hologram projection, color flushing, and even primitive things such as eye lenses. I had not noticed this discoloration before because I had not paid attention, and it was dark on top of all other reasons.

I took a moment to decide on whether to trust her, then grabbed her hand and she began leading me away. Remembering something of little importance, I looked back; surely I would see what had been there before. It still was, but was not in place. It was following us, like the trust-worthy thing it should have been thirteen years ago. All these years had had little effect on the SIR unit, except for a few advances in technology such as the energy belt it now wore. It had been kept in my old Voot Cruiser from a while back, shut down until not too long ago.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked the strange Irken warrior who seemed to be familiar with this place. She looked back with a worried expression, which confused me. Why was she so worried? She was Irken, and we Irkens are known to be the mightiest of conquerors. Just one glance at her true figure would send any human running.

"I am taking you away from here," she answered. Away? "A place where we can be alone. I must ask a favor of you." There was a pause for a moment. She seemed unsure, reluctant even. But I was still stuck on the fact that she was leading me away from everything else. Then the explanation became clear. She was going to expose me after all, and she was leading me to one of the Irken bases on this planet! I immediately shook her hand from me and took a few steps back towards my ship. No way was I ever going back to the IDR, ever. I would fly into Earth's horribly hot sun first. She looked shocked.

"What's wrong?" she asked me. I lowered my head slightly as I stared at her with hatred. How could she know what was wrong? She had never been through what I had. Ten long years with half-Irkens who were such nothings that it was more like ten years in total darkness. The constant questions, no freedom, and worst of all, no means of communication whatsoever. I had tried contacting numerous persons for help, but none had listened to me. After a while I had learned that my story had been all over the news, so whoever I asked for help would deny my pleads and report my calling to IDR headquarters. From there the information was sent to Kraak, and after that . . . well, you get the point.

"'What's wrong?'" I quoted her. "'_What's wrong?_' You can honestly stand there knowing what you are about to do to me and just ask me _WHAT'S WRONG!_" I saw her give me a questioning look. She appeared as if she knew nothing, but I knew the truth. I knew it too well. She was just another Irken who had heard about me and now hated me before getting to know me. 'What's wrong' indeed. She wasn't fooling me at all. I turned from her and began walking back to the Voot, my little SIR unit automatically trailing behind me. I would leave Earth. I would leave and never return. There was nothing she could say to convince me otherwise.

"I pity you," she said as I continued on. I ignored her. "The IDR is a horrible place. People say they help correct Irken Pak defects, but in reality it's nothing but an institution to keep the defects locked up where they can't cause trouble. Intergalactic At Five did an inside story on the facilities. They're nothing but lies, is all they are. Nothing but lies. I can't even begin to imagine what you have been through. And I'm just sorry you don't trust me, because I can help you. I can turn your life in the right direction. What's more, I will listen to you. And you can tell me the horrors you have experienced since your admission to that awful place. But if it is your choice to leave, I will not argue. I will only say that you deserved better than the Tallest have handed you, Zim."

I stopped dead in my tracks. I was not sure I had heard her right. Had she just said my name? Said my name to me before I introduced myself? But . . . how had she known? What had given it away that I was the amazing Zim? Was it something I had said, something I had done, even something I was wearing? No, it must be something else . . . but what? This made less sense than Gir's idiotic mind, less sense than my being banished to Foodcourtia after Operation Impending Doom One.

"I understand you've been through a lot, Zim, what with the Irken Existence Evaluation and being sent to an IDR facility . . . it must have been horrifying."

"Yeah," I answered sluggishly, still uncomfortable talking with her, "it was. But the IDR was worse than anything I have ever been through. They watched my every move, took note of my every word, and pressed me to talk about my deepest secrets and memories. Never have I been through a nightmare like that before. But it doesn't matter now, because I'm never going back. Ever. I will kill myself with a Japser first." Japsers were the latest laser technology, created nonetheless by Earth's Japanese people. Its creators must have found the cross between the words "Japan" and "laser" most humorous for them to report that to be its official name. Even the Tallest seemed amused by the word. I never really cared for it, though. I preferred the older model, the Nicon Beam, to the Japser.

The Irken warrior's eyes seemed to twinkle in the dim light of the fire we were next to, which she had lit to keep us warm on this cold Earth night. She had taken me about a half mile from They Fight's location and set up a small, raggedy camp of her own. At first I was not sure why we had to travel so far on foot, but her story cleared things up about how well trained They Fight was and how they would possibly be awakened by the Voot's engines starting. Stopping and setting it on the ground: no, but starting: most likely.

Our Paks were connected by three five-foot cables that were transferring energy from mine to hers. She had told me of how she had been interrupted when recharging her Pak, and how a human discovered her and attempted to kill her. But I offered to drain my own Pak's energy and let her use it until we could both find an alternate energy source to charge from. Now with nothing else to do but wait until the energy transfer of thirty-four percent of what I had left completed going into her mere sixteen percent, we sat and talked of past events.

She nodded slightly at my answer. She seemed . . . different somehow. Not compared to other Irkens, but compared to how she had been not a few minutes ago. She seemed different, but I couldn't quite pick out what it was. There was something that changed somewhere when we were sitting here talking. I had said something about how the energy transfer always affects the one being drained negatively, and after that . . . something changed. She had begun asking me all sorts of things, the majority I could not remember for some strange reason. It was as if she were a totally different person.

"So what happened in there?" she asked me. "In the IDR? What did Boss and Kraak and Lonny do to you?" Wait. How did she know the names of the IDR Facility Three faculty? Surely this was no big deal; she had heard it on the news or read it in the Universal Times. A simple explanation, yes. Just ignore the awkwardness of the situation and answer the question. Not answering would be going against regulations. Regulations? Regulations of what? Wait . . . this was all becoming very confusing. I suddenly was thinking about things I had no knowledge of whatsoever.

"They sat me down in this little room a long time ago," I began, telling the story of a certain event in hopes of returning things to normal, "and asked me what my name was. This was the first day I was there. I told them my name was Penny for some reason, and they all smiled at me. I remember that Jewel handed me a package with the name "Penny" on it, and I opened it to find it was filled with a . . . _hovery_ liquid thing, like what water looks like in zero gravity. It had numbers in it. The numbers read off '4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42'. It was some sort of secret code.

"But then there was a bright flash of light, and I was suddenly stripped of any clothing including my Pak, and kept in a glass containment time stasis field filled with preservative liquids. I could still see my captors moving, but I could only barely hear them. They were talking about something that had to do with parasitic Pak Tech worms that crawled into your skin and burrowed through your veins until they reached the Pak, then crawled through the circuitry and ate through wires until the entire thing fell to pieces. But if they stayed in you, you still lived, and if they were flushed out by chemicals that only Irken scientists have access to, you will die.

"I looked at my arms and saw that thin, white lines were coming from them, waving in the liquid as I moved. I realized that I was infected with the parasite worm things! But Jewel and Boss had my Pak, so I could see, so it didn't make sense about why the worms wanted me anyway." I took a pause and my eyes became wide, realizing I was talking insanely about events that had never happened, nor could ever happen. They defied all that Irken stood for! Parasitic worms, hovering water bubbles . . . Penny and Jewel . . . what was I talking about?

"Go on," the Irken warrior urged, her voice taking on a eerie tone. "Tell me everything. Tell me all of your secrets. I promise, I won't tell anybody. It will just be between you . . . and . . . me." No. This wasn't happening. There was no way. Suddenly I saw her holographic disguise fade away, revealing who she really was. She . . . she was Boss! She had tracked me here somehow, and she had been talking with me! She was connected to me by our Paks! I had to get out of here!

"I WON'T GO BACK!" I cried. I stood up and began yanking at the cables that hooked us together. I had to escape! But for some reason, they were stuck. They wouldn't budge! I yelled out thought commands at my Pak as loud and fast as I could, but it was doing nothing! Suddenly, Boss began laughing. She was just laughing evilly as I struggled to get the cords away from me. I was shaking with fear now. What was happening?

Cords came from my Pak and began wrapping around me, around my waist, around my chest . . . around my neck! They were choking me! I had to escape! As quickly as I could, with the remainder of my strength, I ripped my Pak from me and began running off towards my Voot. I could escape in it. I could get away from here! I would not go back to the IDR!  
I tripped. I felt a hand around my leg. I looked back at Boss, whose arm had somehow extended past its length and caught me by the ankle. She was still laughing. Behind her rose a dark figure; I couldn't quite tell what it was yet. I tried to run, but my legs were locked in their position. Boss was draining me of what little energy I had left! And the figure behind her was rising high above her head. Panicking more than ever, I bit down on her hand, but it did nothing. Suddenly the figure behind her became visible, and it was a horrible, twisted, scarred and bleeding face. A face that would be stuck in my mind for all eternity. I knew not who it was, but I did know that for the small amount of time I saw it, I screamed.

I was screaming my head off as I sat up. I head tears in my eyes. After a moment or two, I quieted, thinking over what had happened. I looked up at the sky, and saw it was still the black, cloud-covered sky I had seen since I arrived. I looked to my side, and saw Gir sitting by the fire, holding a twig with two marshmallows on it. Then, I felt the cables coming from my Pak. Frightened, I slowly turned my head around to see what they were connected to. Slowly . . . slowly . . .

"Zim, are you okay?" the Irken warrior asked me, her disguise still on. She was still sitting five feet away from me, still proud yet innocent. She looked concerned and slightly scared as her eyes made contact with mine. I was sure that things were back to normal. But I didn't understand what had happened. How had things become so distorted? How had all of those horrible visions made their way into my reality? But what really concerned me was: _why_ had it happened? Perhaps I truly _did_ belong in the IDR if I felt so strongly that the events were real. Perhaps I was literally insane.

"I . . . I don't know," I confessed. Tears whelped up in my eyes and began spilling over to my face. I felt a shiver throughout my entire body and my breathing became choppy. I believed I was crying, but I was not quite sure. It had been a long time since I had cried. I knew why I was upset, and it was because of the scare I had gotten from whatever had just happened. It was as if none of it had been real now; that it was all some form of holographics translated into brainwave patterns. It spooked me a little.

"You were laying down for almost half an hour," she explained to me, "and not moving. Then you began muttering something about 'escaping', and 'not wanting to go back', and then you started screaming. And now, you're sitting up again, talking to me. It was almost like you were asleep, like a human." Asleep? Asleep? Something rang a bell in my head about being asleep. But I couldn't put my finger on it. Something to do with . . . the Dib! Yes, I remembered now! I had encoded my Pak to set a sleep mode almost a year after I first landed on Earth just to see what it was like. And it was programmed to activate only once, but the power drain must have accidentally turned it on. I knew what had happened now! I had fallen asleep, and I had . . . dreamed.

"Dreams . . . are horribly real," I said aloud with no reason other than to assure myself that I was now awake, and back to reality. I felt more tears fill my eyes at the realization that it _was_ all a hideous dream. I even understood the point at which it began. My sleep mode must have activated seconds after I had stated that energy transfers always affect the one being drained negatively. Well, I guess this proves my statement true.

"Dreams?" the Irken warrior asked me. "How would _you_ know anything about dreams? Irkens can't sleep, so Irkens can't dream. I'm beginning to question your sanity, Zim." I almost laughed. Of course she would never understand what I was talking about! My sleep program was one-of-a-kind; no Irken had ever experienced its effects except _me,_ and I just _now_ got a glimpse at what it was really capable of. I really had done an outstanding job on it. The realism of it all was so frightening . . . yet it was already very fuzzy to me what all had happened in the dream. But suddenly, my mind recovered one image all too clearly: that face.

That horrible, bloody face at the end of the dream. It filled me with a terrible sense of death. I still did not understand who it was, but that didn't matter. The face was the way it was, and its picture was painted onto my memory forever. I suddenly didn't feel very well at thinking about the image. It felt like my insides were pulsing with a very unpleasing rhythm, almost to the beating of my heart.

"It's a long story," I answered her. "Twelve years ago I created a sleep program for myself, and the power drain just now turned it on. I . . . think I had a dream. A horrible dream. It was worse than anything I have ever experienced in my life; even worse than the IDR."

"I believe on Earth the humans call that a 'nightmare'," she pointed out. Yes, a nightmare it was indeed. But it was over now. Things were back to normal. Hopefully I would never have to see that face again. Ever. And I would make sure of it tomorrow, when I would completely remove the sleep program from my Pak Tech inventory. That tiny microchip that I had worked so hard to complete. But it was too dangerous for the Irken mind; our race simply wasn't ready for this kind of reality simulation yet. Once I removed it, I would use my lasers to destroy it.

"I have a question for you," I began. She listened closely. After clearing my throat, I asked, "What is a 'Japser'?"

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

Ah, yes, dreams can be quite frightening when you've never experienced one. But some people think that dreams are based on real events and emotions, and even can tell the future. What do you think Zim's dream is trying to tell him? We sure know he has a fear of the IDR, and Boss, and has a few issues with trust. But I do wonder about that face he saw . . . could it be important?

That little story he told in his dream, about being in a glass containment stasis field chamber of some kind, is important much farther into the story, as is the name Jewel, so keep those in mind when reading.


	3. Eric

**Chapter Three**

**"Eric"**

: Z :

Slowly at first, then with growing speed, the sun seemed to climb into view. Light shown through the heavy layer of smog that had covered the sky for almost ten years. The tall pine trees' pale green foliage became visible, as did the mountains in the distance. The few birds that still thrived in this particular area began singing - about what, I did not know. It seemed to me there was nothing to rejoice about. I had learned that my mission was just a hoax to get me murdered by They Fight, but if I called the Tallest to double check then I would be sent back to the IRD for still being alive. After all, my stay there was not over yet as long as I was still classified as a defective. Also, this strange Irken who had not yet dropped her disguise had been talking to me all night while the energy transfer was being completed. I had never met another like her. But, along with many other things, one thing she had mentioned still had my brain working on the answer. How had she known my name?

"So what I'm getting at is that our society needs total redirecting. How many more planets will we enslave for our own personal needs? Why must the universe suffer under our rule? Even if the Almighty Tallest _do_ succeed in universal conquest, they should not torment the peoples they have conquered! It's not fair! It's as if they have no feelings towards anything! Have you not noticed that they heartlessly kill anybody who dares stand up to them or question them? Have you not noticed that they push around their personnel like common dirt wanderers? Have you not noticed that they are the ones who ruined your life?"

I sighed and nodded to myself. Yes, I had noticed. I had much more than just noticed. All those horrible nights spent in my tiny little room thinking about the reasons why they had done it; the hours I wasted staring out the window at the dark blue clouds floating through the lime green sky; the years of my life that had been thrown away. Yet, it all made sense to me for some reason. The Tallest were horrible, ruthless rulers. They needed to be overthrown. But . . . then again, they were the ones who had given me a second chance in the beat of a heart; the ones who had even helped me accomplish my mission by sending me advanced weapons such as the Mega Doomer. The things that had all happened in my life made little to no sense. They hated me . . . yet they assisted me. Yet they hated me . . .

"Zim?"

Again with her saying my name. Again she said it aloud, right in front of me, without me ever introducing myself to her. Every time she said it made me uncomfortable, because every time she said it I wondered how she had known. Even weirder, I didn't even know _her_ name. I only knew she was somebody who had offered to help me hide from the IDR. The IDR: that horrible, horrible institute. I hated it.

She had talked not only about the flaws in our civilization, but the flaws with the IDR. The way she talked about them humored me to a point of smiling, but that was about it. Deep inside it didn't feel right listening to her insult the place like she did, but that feeling was sure to wear off. It was most likely just something that resulted from staying there for nearly a decade. After all, I _did_ hate the IRD and everybody in it . . . didn't I? Didn't I despise Lonny and Kraak and Boss? _Didn't_ I wish them murdered in a fiery explosion by They Fight?

"Zim?"

I turned my head at her call this time, hoping not to be rude, and answered simply, "Yes?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Noticed . . . noticed . . . noticed what? What had I not noticed? Was there something missing? Was there something amiss, out of place, disorganized even? I took a second to glance at the sky; the pale gray sky with puffs of white here and there. I thought over her confusing question. "Noticed" could be referring to a million and one things going on. Noticed the birds singing? Noticed the sun rising behind the smog? Noticed that day was approaching? Or was she referring to something she had said earlier . . .?

What _had_ she said earlier? Something about our civilization, society, the IDR . . . something about fairness and equality. And something about the Tallest's rule, how they did things. How they had ruined my life by banishing me to IDR Facility Three. Yes! She asked me if I noticed the horrible things they had been doing; noticed that it was them who trashed my life.

"Yes," I answered rather quietly, "I have noticed." I glanced at the remainder of the ash-covered wood from the fire that was crackling, popping and hissing every time something shifted; the few remaining embers that were still glowing and giving off a dim light that grew harder and harder to make out as the morning stretched on. Yes . . . I had noticed.

"Master, you all sad!" a squeaky robotic voice cried out, interrupting my thoughts. Changing the direction of my attention to my little SIR unit, who was still sitting by what was left of the fire with a stick that had two marshmallows on it clasped in his hands, I only lowered my head in despair and let a tear fall from my eye. Yes, I was _sad_. As I recall, Gir had never seen me sad. Not like this. Before, I had been upset occasionally, even to the point of not talking about anything, but I had never been so depressed . . . as I was now.

I took in a deep breath, trying not to break down crying in front of another Irken Elite soldier. But it was becoming harder and harder to contain my unnatural emotions towards life at the moment; harder still to keep from letting an occasional tear wet my eyes. I feared the Irken warrior was beginning to notice. From the tone of her voice, she sounded slightly concerned for me, but it was awkward thinking of another Irken as feeling _anything_ towards me but annoyed. I had been told many-a-time I was annoying.

"Yeah, your SIR's right," said the Irken warrior, agreeing with Gir. "You're depressed. You've hardly said a word to me since I said your name last night, and don't say that you haven't occasionally let a little tear slip out. Trust me, I know when I see somebody who's upset, and you are definitely upset." Yes, I was upset, but why was she so curious? My emotions were none of her business! She should just leave me alone and think about what to do with me when we go back to They Fight's camp.

Wiping the wet splotch from my face with my sleeve, I said defensively, "So? Why do _you_ care?"

"Because," she answered, "you are going to have to become one of us. We'll be seeing each other almost every day, and I don't want to see you so upset. In They Fight, you're going to have to get over it and concentrate on your training. It requires total focus. If you're upset, then you're distracted. If you're distracted, you won't learn properly. And trust me; you have to learn all you can before our next mission, or else our number will be one person short when we return."

One person short she says? Is she implying that I can't handle breaking into a Pak Tech Research Center and stealing technology advances? Their little "missions" are simple and easy, nothing worthy of me at all. If it were more challenging, perhaps I would not be so offended by her statement. But They Fight was the smallest shrinking resistance against the Irkens in the history of forever! They were weak, pathetic, and useless!

"I can handle it," I argued, ambition growing inside of me, energy pulsing through my veins a bit faster. The sad images of my ruined life seemed to fade away as they were replaced with new images of fighting alongside this Irken - fighting for a better cause. I could handle anything They Fight threw at me, no matter what it was! Training here was most likely nothing compared to Hobo 13, which I had succeeded at one hundred and ten percent. They Fight's course would be "a piece of cake", as was said here.

Smiling now, the Irken warrior asked, "Are you sure?"

Was I sure? Of course I was! How could she not recognize that I was the best Invader out there, the best at almost everything I do? I was no ordinary Irken. That was for sure. Where many had failed, I succeeded. When others perished, I prevailed. There was nothing that I could not face and conquer! There was no obstacle that I could not overcome! Whatever this "They Fight" had planned for me, I would accomplish it with a broad smile on my face as I marched with the Irken invader stance that I had walked with my entire life.

I stood up, my energy levels higher than they had been in ten years. "I am positive!" I answered. "They Fight has not seen anything compared to me! I am the best there is! I am the one who will lead them to victory!" I spotted a nearby rock with a flat surface and hopped atop it, making myself feel taller. With a voice that had been lost to me until now, crushed under my sorrow while I had been at the IDR, I yelled as I used to when facing off Dib one-on-one, "I AM ZIM!"

: J :

As we walked into They Fight's "camp", if you could even call it that, I saw that some of the tents had been restored using scraps from multiple other burnt tents. The thirty-six others were up and about, cleaning up after last night's battle, making a breakfast of wild quail and dehydrated food preserves, and beginning the day's training. As I scanned the area, I noticed that our presence had not yet been made known. This was a good thing, for the only way of hiding little Zim was to use my own holographics, which limited him to staying within two feet of me. But as long as nothing separated us, he was as good as welcome here among the others.

There was no sign of Commander from what I saw, which meant he was in one of the three raggedy tents that had been pulled together. It was simple how Commander was involved in this: Zim's initiation. Commander was the one who oversaw the coming of new members, and Zim was going to have to become a member to keep Zita off my back.

As I put my arm around Zim, now known as "Eric", I felt the essence of his hatred vibrate through my hand. I could tell he despised playing the part of a lost human smeet who had the appearance of a completely innocent ten-year-old. Looking down for a moment, I saw his eyes were in the same position mine were usually in: half-closed eyelids that shadowed the flames in his pupils. He reminded me of myself so much that it was beginning to scare me. But I knew why . . .

"Just keep it low, Eric," I said to him. His eye twitched at my calling him that name. "Let me do the talking."

"I can talk for myself," he answered crudely, not even turning his head to look at me. The time I had spent with him gave me a few clues about his personality. I knew he liked doing things for himself, and I knew he was very ambitious. He seemed to dislike me pointing out mistakes or flaws in things he did, and he seemed to absolutely hate being assisted. Perhaps in training we would learn more about each other, maybe even form a certain relationship like we had had in Irken Year 57302. Of course, things were much different now than they were when Miyuki was still Tallest. Zim was young then. But comparing him now to the little smeet I had met a long time ago, I would say he has grown into a fine Irken, excluding height.

We neared the tent in the middle, which was most likely Commander's tent. Commander had a high opinion of himself sometimes, for a human who was only twenty-three years of age. But nobody questioned him; all of his plans and tactics always worked perfectly. Come to think of it, few people even talked with him. _I_ had, of course, as had David and a few other respected members. And now I hoped Zim would be one who got to know Commander as well as I had.

I peered in, Zim still next to me, and spotted Dib sitting at a desk full of holes that was covered in blueprints and schematics. David, Brittany and Nina were around him, discussing the newest plan to infiltrate some Irken base. They looked up at me as I walked in calmly.

"Jiss!" exclaimed David. "Hey, I thought something happened to you!" The idiot. Not only had he spoken to me before Commander had, but what he said was of little relevance. He deserved to be put on night guard duty. Luckily, before he could say more, Commander silenced him by putting a hand up. Always count on Commander to rescue me from David's idiocy.

There was silence as he stood up and put his hands down on the desk. Brittany and Nina stood up straight as well and did not move nor speak, knowing to respect Commander as he decided what to say to me. David, the imbecile, was still looking through the papers and not paying any mind to anything going on.

"You didn't respond to the morning number call," said Commander to me suspiciously. I held my breath, hoping I wasn't in trouble. Not responding to number call was serious in his eyes; it usually meant you had been kidnapped or were dead. When you showed up before him after not responding to number call, you were in trouble. _Big trouble_. Hopefully adding a new recruit member would take his mind off my punishment.

Commander glanced down at Zim, whose eyes were wide as he stared at him. It was as if Zim knew something about Commander that nobody else did - something that he despised as much as the IDR even. He wasn't moving. I saw the invisible fire in his eyes that told me he hated Commander being near him, as if they had met and he remembered something horrible about him. Of course, there was no way Zim knew anything about Earth or its people, including Commander. He had never been to Earth before as far as I knew. I glanced up at Commander and saw that he, too, looked as if he recalled something about the appearance of this person before him.

He walked from behind his desk and up to us. He kneeled down next to Zim and squinted his eyes behind his goggles as he stared at him. This was the strangest thing I had seen in a while: Commander confused.

"So," he said to me, still looking at Zim, "you found a little friend?"

"Yes Sir," I answered. "His name is Eric." There was another moment without words as Commander looked into Zim's big eyes. He leaned slightly closer, and I saw Zim's enraged expression suddenly turn to total oblivion and innocence, as if something in him snapped. He slowly lowered his head and moved behind my legs like a little lost smeet.

"Uh, hi," he peeped, his voice cleverly disguised as that of a human boy: tiny, high-pitched and frightened. It amazed me seeing him playing out his part so well. For a while I was concerned he was going to lose it and cry out something that would give it all away, but here he was acting like he knew nothing except that I had found him in the woods and he was scared of this place.

Commander had on a pondering look as he stared deep into Zim's eyes and ordered softly, "Say something again. I want to hear you speak."

What was going on? Had I missed something? This was _supposed_ to be all too simple. I get Zim initiated, train him, and we battle for the better cause, side-by-side as trainer and trainee. But here these two acted as if they knew each other, Zim especially. There must be some bit of information that they had never told me, something that connected the two somehow. Something . . . but what?

"What should I say?" asked "Eric" cutely, his voice differing so much from what it normally was that I never would have guessed it was him if I had not known. At hearing Zim speak once more, Commander smiled. I wasn't quite sure why.

"Well, Jiss, what do you plan to do with the little guy?" he asked me in play, standing up to face me once more. I almost collapsed with relief. I thought for sure I was going to be in big trouble for this, but is was obvious he was going to let it go. Now . . . what did I plan to do with "Eric"? I had to explain my plans for him in the right way, or Commander would never allow him to stay. What to say, what to say . . .?

"Commander," I addressed him formally, "I plan to train him to become a member of They Fight and aid us in upcoming pilfering missions. Do you approve?"

He seemed to think about the idea as Zim continued to play out the act of "Eric", and then answered, "Yes, I do. You may leave, Jiss, and begin teaching him basic training skills."

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

Look back to paragraphs 3 and 5 in Jiss's part. She acts as if she's met Zim before. She knows a lot about him already, in fact, but does _not_ know that he is the one who conquered Earth. She doesn't know that Dib and Zim have met, and Dib doesn't know that Zim and Jiss have met. Zim actually doesn't know that he has met Jiss, either. God, this is so confusing… Ugh…

Meh. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 will clear things up . . . and bring on a huge problem. Hold onto your seats, readers.


	4. The Close Call

**Chapter Four**

**The Close Call**

: Z :

I walked with Jiss through They Fight's many different morning activities, seeing all that went on in the resistance that had cost Irk so much research money. They appeared no different than any normal humans, what with the way they talked to each other and went about relaxing when they were not training. It amazed me at how average they all seemed! Here I had thought the training was constant; the suspicion constantly high . . . but it was not.

As we continued to walk past the others, I began to get an idea of what life was like here. The human soldiers lived in makeshift abodes; nothing but pieces of cloth draped over poles to make a shelter. They ate what they could either find out in the wild or had stolen from the Pak Tech research facilities. It appeared that they were well trained of how to use the technology that they stole, but I saw nothing that would be much of a challenge for me to complete. Of what I had seen, a few humans were struggling with the thought commands they were testing out on Irken Paks they wore, doubtlessly engineered and reprogrammed to be designed for their pathetic human chemistry. It made me snicker at the sight; they were just so horrible at it!

Soon, we lost sight of They Fight for the most part, and arrived at a large pond surrounded nonetheless by the forest that surrounded everything around here. It was unclear at first what was going to be taught using a pond, but "Jiss", as I found to be her name, was about to explain.  
Seeing this body of water sent a shiver through my entire body; I remembered the sting Earth's liquids caused when reacting with my alien skin. It had been horrifying. Hopefully whatever we would be doing had nothing to do with taking risks around this pool of acid.

"Okay, Zim," said Jiss, taking a few microchips out of her pocket, "It's time to begin training." Suddenly the holograph that had hid me dropped, revealing nothing but my Irken self disguised pathetically with a wig and eye lenses, the very same I had worn thirteen years ago. Hopefully, if we were caught, nobody would recognize me as an Irken. Jiss kneeled down beside me, microchips in hand.

"Turn around," she ordered. "I'm going to upgrade your Pak so you will be able to use the same technology as I do. They only thing is, you're going to have to adjust, and it's going to take some time." Yes, yes, adjusting was not going to be a problem. I was so eager to find out what kind of advances Earth's Pak Tech research facilities had developed. Hopefully they were amazing, wondrous and unfathomable abilities that defied the laws of physics and time as we know it! Of course, I could not count on humans to develop such wonders. Whatever it was, I would find out soon.

She opened up my Pak's outer shell, revealing the intricate circuitry and tiny wires that ran the whole thing. I could not see her progress, but I felt her hands toying with the order of things as I stared out at the thin, dying wall of trees. It made me nervous having another person other than myself fiddling with my Pak, but I had to keep calm and allow her to install the new programs, or else I would never know what They Fight was really capable of.

Suddenly my brain received a new signal coming from one of the microchips. It felt strange. It had been a long time since anything new had been added to my Pak's inventory. Whatever this thing was, I felt it was very powerful, using polarization and magnets for something. Amazing that any lower life form besides the Vortians were able to accomplish Pak upgrades, especially any _Earthen_ life form.

This new thread of information was unlike anything I had ever experienced. All those zeros and ones . . . coded into a form that my mind could understand. It really was something amazing. But this . . . whatever it was, I didn't quite understand it. Its code was among the newer ones; something I hadn't dipped into at all. I was still stuck with the old Pak Tech. Now I understood what Jiss had meant by "adjust" to it. It would take time, yes, and also practice. But seeing that I had nothing else to do with my life, learning how to use this technology to benefit They Fight sounded fine to me.

"There," said Jiss. I felt her close up the opening that had exposed my . . . well, my _everything_ to her. "You now have acquired your first new Pak Tech, and also my favorite: Tech four four zero seven two one eight, known around here as 'water walker'. The humans have a pet name for everything for some reason. Anyway, this takes the least concentration out of the fourteen I have for you."

Fourteen? Fourteen new powers to master? That was . . . incredible! Fourteen completely new Pak Tech advances over a mere ten years. In all of Irken history, nothing of such quantity has ever been accomplished. Truly these humans were fast, even if not amazing like Irkens. I was eager to acquire all of them. But, as many peoples have said, "take it one step at a time". This first easy task would be a synch.

"Watch," Jiss ordered, spinning me around to face the pond. "This is all you have to do." She approached the edge of the pond slowly, with the grace of an Earthen cat and the stride of an Irken warrior. I noticed she paused when she came to the water's edge for some reason. What was she doing? Meditating? Because meditation has always been something that bores me to death. If this was about meditation, then I would gladly skip it and move on to something more challenging.

I watched curiously as she drew in a deep breath, lifted her foot, and . . . put it in the water. Perhaps it had something to do with the water. But I hated water! Water burned Irken skin! Had she learned nothing during the time she had spent here? Water was acid! Whatever she was doing, this was insane. I would not. No way, no how, would I ever do anything that had to do with . . .

Jiss lifted her back foot and placed it in front of the other. She then began . . . walking? At first, I believed it was not _she_ who had gone insane, but _I!_ I was witnessing this Irken walking . . . on _top_ of the water! With each step she took, there was a slight ripple in the water, as if something had only tapped it. She did not fall in! And she continued to walk further, and further . . .

She turned around after she had gotten about ten feet and smiled at me. I wasn't sure why. Then I realized how silly I looked with my eyes wide open and my tongue hanging out of my mouth. Well, I was simply . . . amazed! I had never seen anything like it before! Was I supposed to dismiss this as a normal Irken ability? Or a normal ability of any sentient race, for that matter? No creatures alive besides certain insects were able to walk on top of water this way! Not that I knew of.

"Okay, your turn," she called happily. Wait. My turn? I was _not_ going to attempt this! I wasn't ready for something of such magnitude! I would never make it. I would become distracted and lose my concentration, or I would trip and fall . . . I would never be able to do this! Was there not some way I could simply learn everything else besides this? Because if this was easy, then I was the Almighty Tallest. And truth be told: I am one of the shortest Irkens on our planet!

"M-me?" I asked her, fearful of the answer. She only nodded. So . . . I had to do this. I _could_ do this, too, if I only set my mind to it. My Pak now had the technology, so this would be easy! I just had to activate it using a thought command! And I could do that without even trying! Clearly, I thought to myself, directed at my Pak, "Tech four four zero seven two one eight, activate." And I felt the hum of a new microchip join with the others, thus making walking across water possible. Now I really _could_ do this! Easy as the square root of thirty-seven! Yes, easy, so easy . . . I hoped.

I walked up to the edge of the water with extreme caution. It looked rather shallow at first; why, I could even see the bottom for the first few inches. There were tiny green fish about the size of pen caps where I could still see the bottom, poking their heads here and there hoping to find a meal of plankton. A few plants were growing in the water, something I believed that were called "Lilly pads" or something of the sort. I stared down at the wavy reflection of myself that was mirrored in the water. Behind me were the trees, and the sky above them . . . that gray sky with its white clouds.

I gulped. Slightly shivering, I placed my right foot onto the water. And it . . . didn't sink. The only thing that happened was the little green fish scrambled out of my vision and the Lilly pads swayed slightly as waves disturbed the liquid they rested on. This was as easy as I had thought it would be. No need to worry. Now with more confidence, I placed my left foot in front of my right foot. For some reason, it went a little under the water, creating a miniature dust storm when it tapped the mud.

Something told me at that very moment that I should have stopped and turned around. Something said that I wasn't ready for this. But I did not listen. I slowly took another step forward, sure things would be just as fine and easy as they had been the first two steps, and smiled. This time, my foot was a bit more submerged than in the second step, but I was still okay.

I looked up and saw Jiss smiling at me. She gave me such confidence! Almost without thinking at all, I took another step. But this time, my foot did not only go under the water, but the rest of me did as well. As I stepped forward, my foot plunged into a deep part of the pond, causing me to lose my balance and fall forward. I was completely under water! And I was sinking, I believed, from the way it felt. Sinking to the bottom of the pond!

Suddenly, I felt my lungs start to collapse, and I instinctively breathed in as deep as I could. But I have never made a worse mistake. The inside of my Irken body filled with Earth's acid water, stinging my skin not only on the outside but now the inside as well! My entire body was screaming with pain! And I couldn't breathe! I moved my arms and legs as fast as I could, hopeful of somehow swimming to the surface. I had to get out of here! I was dieing!

Still waving my limbs around, I realized I could at least see. But what was there to see? See what surrounded me at my final moments? It became harder and harder to move as I lost strength. My vision became dimmer and dimmer by the second. I tried to take another breath quickly. Air! I needed air! I . . . needed air! But, this was all water. No air under water, none at all! And the acid . . . eating through my skin . . .

But . . . no. It was gone somehow. I could no longer feel the horrible sting of Earth's water. It . . . was gone. But the air! My lungs . . . air. Wait . . . I . . . I didn't feel a need to breathe any more. There was no pain . . . no pain at all. It felt . . . perfectly fine. No . . . pain.

My vision completely blackened. I saw nothing. I felt nothing. I only received the sound waves from a few bubbles that floated up to the surface past my antennae. Now that I thought about it, this was nice. Peaceful . . . calm. Nothing bad here . . . nothing . . . bad here . . .? And no . . . more . . . pain . . . . . .?

It was as if I were in a world all my own. Do not ask me to describe it, for I have no idea what it was like. I just knew it was like a dream. But I only saw it for a brief moment, and then it was completely gone; nothing but black once more. And even if it really had existed, I knew not how to get back. All I knew was it was nice, and I enjoyed it for the short moment I was there. Of course, it was interrupted when I awakened.

"Zim! You're alive!"

I felt air rush into my lungs, and I sat up and coughed, half dead and dripping wet. I . . . the pain! Oh, Lord, the pain! My entire body was enclosed in a vortex of unspeakable horror! Outside, inside, all over . . . pain. I leaned over and coughed some more, not able to stop. Thoughts flooded my mind about the events that had happened. It was as somebody flipped a switch as turned my brain on after having been turned off. All of this information at once! Mental and physical information; all of it being sent into my mind at the same time. Memories, emotions, feelings, scents, sounds, sights . . . all of it was so overwhelming!

The raspy cough turned into vomiting, nothing but Earth water and stomach fluids as anybody would have guessed if knowing what I was. Irkens, excluding those at the IDR, usually did not consume food for primary energy. But my thoughts were focused on something else: what had happened. What exactly _had_ happened, anyway? I remembered the IDR, the mission . . . Boss, and Lonny . . . but what else? What else was there? I was missing something. There were no answers to all of my questions!

Okay, I came to Earth, met this "Jiss", and we preformed an Irken Pak energy transfer. After that, things went blank. Almost like part of my memory had been erased or altered. Here I was, with no explanation, feeling as if I had been almost killed and sitting next to . . . to Jiss, right? We had been training, right? Yes. . . . Yes! I remembered now! We had been training, and she had walked out onto the water. I followed her, trying to do as she had, but I stepped into a deep spot and lost my balance. I had gone under.

Finally able to think, and now speak, I sat up and put my hand around my throat, somehow subconsciously hoping to ease the pain. But before I could ask any questions, I noticed the skin on my arm. It was ripped and shredded, almost in a pattern of waves, and covered in blood. Even the sleeve had been torn away. Why . . .? The acid! The water was acid! I had almost forgotten. My whole body must be like this, I realized. I had been completely submerged. The toxic Earth water had completely eaten through the epidermis of my skin! How would I ever survive with an open wound like this? All of the bacteria on this planet was out of control, and would surely infect me. I knew; I had seen it with my own eyes, using a pair of micro-goggles. They were everywhere!

I took in a few more breaths and looked around. Trees, trees, sky . . . we were still in the forest. And there was the pond, not ten feet away. Yes, just keep calm and look at everything around you, Zim. Do not think of the pain. Just let your mind slip away. Things were fine now - just fine. Jiss will take care of you. She will help you.

"Jiss . . .?" I began, feeling my tongue move to make words. Even my tongue had been singed by the water. Everything all over hurt. But I continued, squinting with every syllable, "Do you have anything to help me?" Hopefully she did. She had to have something in all that technology of hers that would make all this just go away. I was going to be just fine. Just . . . fine . . . and no more pain . . . no more . . .

I suddenly felt tears in my eyes as I whimpered. I began crying. How could anything ever restore me to my former self? I was so messed up! And what kind of technology did they have to take away such unbearable pain as this? I would never be able to do anything ever again! Even sobbing quietly as I was hurt!

"I do, Zim," Jiss answered sweetly, her words kind and quiet, "so don't worry. You're going to be okay. I just have to get you to TF Med Lab as soon as possible. Are you able to walk with me?"

I blinked a few times, trying to free my eyes of any more tears. Not that anybody could tell anyway; I was dripping wet with skin-eating acid water. I slowly crawled to my feet with much effort, and stood up straight for a moment or two. Then suddenly my strength leapt away from me and I collapsed back to the ground. Pain and agony surged through my entire body at collision with the cold, hard dirt.

"No," I whimpered.

: D :

It had been a long time since the nightmare that was my life had taken its plunge into eternal darkness. So it seemed, anyway. It had only been a decade in real life, but it felt like a century. Yet, even now I could see his face, hear his triumphant laugh. His supreme evilness that detonated the world as I knew it. I still hated him with every nerve of my body; still wished him dead to this day. But I knew because of the gossip that had gone around that he was locked away in some Irken facility, and he would never ever return. Of course if he did . . .

I did not wish to think of that. He would end up dead if he ever crossed me again, that was all there was to it. He would end up dead. It was because of him that the Earth was enslaved. It was because of him that my childhood was a horrible mess of lies. Still . . . it was because of him that I was not just another mindless human slave to the Irken empire. If we had not fought that day - the day the massive came . . . then surely the Tallest would have found me. Surely their weapons and technology would have caused my surrender, or even killed me. But we _had_ fought that day, and he had won. Because he thought I was dead, he had thrown my body into a time stasis chamber to preserve me as a "trophy". And for that I was thankful, because otherwise I would have been captured or killed.

And his name rang in my head every time I thought about anything having to do with Irkens. His horrible, stupid, short little name. What others recognized as the captor of Earth; the conqueror. I still knew the truth. I still knew that if the Massive had not come, I would have been victor, thus saving Earth. But no. All because of him I was stuck as the commander of They Fight. All because of him my army's story of success was all over the news, often revealing our location. All because of . . . Zim.

I hoped to never hear anything about that little twerp again. He was nothing but pure evil, he was. Yes, yes, Zim. I hope you are happy where ever you are, because once I find you after I defeat the Irken armada, I will torment you to your death.

I heard some commotion outside. First nothing but a few whispers, then growing to where everybody was off task and talking freely. I had nothing against them talking and taking a break, but their voices sounded so concerned. Still, no alarm was going off, and I had not heard from my advisors in a while. Perhaps it was nothing to worry about. The usual suspicion throughout camp.

Suddenly a cry in the distance came in range of my hearing. A painful, mournful cry. And also quick paced breath accompanied by footsteps. What was going on out there? I stood up and stepped out of the tent that was posing as headquarters at the moment and looked at the crowd of concerned faces. The talking died down as people noticed I was curious about what was going on enough to stand with them. Soon, only a few whispers remained, allowing the sound of the cry to increase. It was clearer now - easily recognizable. But I did not know who it was crying.

I looked to where everybody else was gazing: the path to the pond. It was an unclear path, not man made and with many bushes and trees blocking the way, but a path it was. At first I was confused. There was no person visible. Then I saw Jiss not too far away, carrying something. From the looks of it, she was holding a child! A crying child in her arms, and she was running back to camp. But the crying did not sound like that of a child at all. More like . . . well, I was not sure.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked nobody in particular. Many people looked to the ground, away from me and away from Jiss. Nobody answered. It was clear that if they knew what was happening, they did not want to tell. Of course, if they didn't, then nobody had the gut to tell me their guess. Well, theirs was as good as mine. I hadn't a clue. Something bad had happened, no doubt, but it was unclear what.

Suddenly the crowd parted, revealing Jiss was right at the edge of camp now. The crying had died down to nothing but sobs. I saw that whatever she was holding was green and purple. Even more confusing to me. Green? Green was the color of many things, including Irken. But Jiss was my best warrior! She would never think to help the Irkens by saving one unless she had been brainwashed or something of the sort. And purple . . . the color of Irken blood.

"What is that?" I heard many people asking. "Is it some kind of being? Is it Irken? Is it human? What is that horrible thing?"

Jiss walked forward towards me, the crowd of people making a path for her. She looked tired and out of breath as she collapsed to her knees in front of me, the thing she was holding quiet but tense. They both had tears in their eyes.

"Commander!" she panted. "You have to help him! He fell in the pond . . . he almost drowned . . . and he's bleeding to death! You have to do something!"

"Jiss, I demand you explain yourself this instant!" I ordered sternly. Even though I could tell she was very upset, and whatever she was holding was running out of time, I refused to help her until I knew what I was dealing with here. If I didn't know what this thing was and how it got this way, I would never be able to fix it up. I only hoped she had not found this thing like this and made up a story. If she did, then Heaven knows how my med team would ever figure out how to treat it.

"Do you remember . . . the little boy I brought to you?" she asked. "Eric? This . . . is Eric!" I heard everybody in the entire camp gasp. Eric, the shy little boy who she had asked to train? I didn't understand. How could this . . . thing be Eric? It was so horribly disfigured compared to what Eric had looked like. Eric, the little boy with a . . . with a voice I had thought I recognized! Wait! This thing and I had met before, whatever it was . . .

"You see, Eric is not really human," she continued. Many conversations continued on about the matter. "He is Irken!" That did it. Jiss brought the enemy into our camp? Brought an Irken into my presence? How dare she? Jiss, of all people. Jiss: my best warrior! I didn't know if I could ever forgive her for this! Had she finally snapped under the pressure? Something was wrong here. Something was horribly wrong.

"And this Irken fell into the pond while I was teaching him!" she said. But I needed no more explanations from her. She was mentally damaged somehow, for some reason. Something had happened that I did not know about. And when my soldiers keep secrets from me, the punishment is usually death. I motioned to Nina and Brittany to take her into the third tent to wait for me. They nodded, rushed over to her and grabbed her arms. Brittany pried the dieing Irken from her grasp and tossed him aside like a rag doll.

"Wait! You have to listen!" she pleaded as they dragged her away. I tried to ignore her. "He will die if we do not help him! He will die! You of all people know that water burns Irken skin! And he almost drowned! Please! Help him! You have to help him!" No. There was a law in They Fight: no mercy. Ever. And no exceptions. Every Irken had to be killed, along with any humans helping them. Even if it meant my best soldier Jiss.

Her screaming was heard throughout the camp as Brittany and Nina tied her down inside the tent. I walked over to the Irken and stared down at it with hatred. It was barely breathing, tears in its closed eyes, shaking with fear and cold. A pathetic excuse for a soldier, or even a spy. Whatever its purpose was, I had no use for it. I kicked at it a little, amusing myself at its reaction.

Slowly it opened one eye, revealing its eyes were the average bright pink. Who cared for this little short, mediocre Irken anyway? It was not unlike any other besides the below average height. Stupid little creature. Why was Jiss getting to worked up over this thing?

". . . Dib . . ." I heard the thing say as it looked at me with burning hate. It knew my name. Big deal. Many people and Irkens knew my name, because I was the commander of They Fight. You could even say I was rather famous. But there was something about its voice that struck my curiosity. It was rather unique, if Irkens even knew the word.

"Dib the stink beast," it continued. I listened with dull enthusiasm. "Do you know how long I have wanted to destroy you?"

I shrugged in response. The many people around me gathered closer and stared down at the little thing with anger. To them, it was insulting me, but to me it was merely saying whatever it wanted during its last moments alive. It amused me to listen to an Irken's last words.

"No, no," I ordered my soldiers as they were about to destroy the creature, "let the thing speak." And to the Irken scum, I inquired, "So what were you saying about destroying me? Wanna tell us all?"

I saw the flames in its eyes. "Yes," it answered. "Even now, at your pathetic human age of twenty-three, you enjoy my pain. Have you lost your moral? Whatever happened to Dib; the human who always thought about how wrong it was to harm something that was completely defenseless?" What was this little Irken getting at? And its voice seemed so familiar. Well, whatever it was about it that stood out in my memory, this thing would be dead soon, and we could burn the body and keep the Pak for research. Nobody would miss this vile creature.

"Whatever happened to Dib; the human who decided to help me instead of just leave me at school when you injected me with water? Whatever happened to Dib, who used to be an annoying pest that only infiltrated my lab on occasion?" Now things were getting creepy. I recalled what this thing was talking about. I recalled everything. How had it found out about my past? How?

"I want you to hear something, Dib," it continued. "Something I saved that I originally recorded to amuse mewhenever I became bored. And think back to when you said this, stink beast. Think back carefully." What? It was as if this Irken knew something. Knew something that I did not. But what? What was this thing getting at? What was the point?

Suddenly a flat holographic screen projected from its Pak, like a television screen. A holograph of me! At age ten! A hologram of me from somebody else's perspective. I still was not sure who's yet, though. Every member of They Fight was whispering, confused.

"SILENCE!" I demanded. Every voice was silent as I watched my past.

"I just don't feel _right_ about winning like this for some reason," said the younger version of me in the television-like holograph projection. "It should be a fair fight. I mean, injecting you with a poison while you're sleeping? I can't _live_ knowing I defeated you like that!" And just like that, the playback ended and the holograph disappeared. I remembered it! I remembered it all! It had been from the time I had found the perfect way to defeat Zim, but my conscience would not let me. And he had been lying on the school floor in terrible agonizing pain. I still had a heart back then.

The crowd of They Fight members gasped and began giving me weird looks as they whispered. This . . . this wasn't happening! This creature, this whoever it was, had salvaged a part of my past. It had taken something that I had experienced with Zim and added it to its little collection of data about me. Stolen footage of a time when I was actually nice to an Irken! Was that what this was all about?

I looked back to the bloody Irken with a horrified expression, and suddenly recognized him. I took a step back.

"It's me, Dib," said the Irken I now knew to be Zim. But . . . he was not aggressive. He was gentle; almost sad, even if his eyes still showed hate. I . . . I had to do something. I could not let it all end like this after thirteen years! Not after all we had been through! He was so helpless, so . . . not Zimmish. He was a changed person. He was not the Irken I used to know. And if he was going to be destroyed, it would be battling me, not because he fell in a pond.

"Get my med team out here, STAT!" I cried. "I want this Irken fixed up and repaired better than he ever was! You all heard me! We're going to help this creature!"

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

Ah, well now things are starting to make at least a LITTLE sense. Dib is helping his worst enemy, Jiss is now considered the insane one, and Zim is being nice. Yep. Couldn't be more normal.

Okay, seriously . . . we now know a little more about how all this got started, and we see that Dib isn't ready to end it just yet. Jiss just saved Zim's life, but right before she did, Zim got a peek at his twisted dream-like future.

Now that we're all caught up and informed, I'll just take the time to say this: if you think this chapter revealed more about the past, then hold onto your seats; the next chapter digs much deeper.


	5. Memories

**Chapter Five**

**Memories**

: Z :

I sat on a crooked table with my legs dangling off the edge. I was wrapped in a warm blanket to keep me dry and the right temperature. My lovely green skin was back to its usual form; clean of blood and free of bacteria. Indeed, the TF Med team had done a great job helping me begin recovery. Now things would hopefully be different. Everybody knew I was Irken, and everybody felt sorry for me. I had told my story of staying at the IDR for ten years and then finding out how fake my mission was, and even how I almost drowned in the pond. Even Dib felt sorry for me. These humans; they were so weak when it came to emotion. Every one of them. We Irkens knew better than to "feel" for others. That is, except Invader Jiss. Her time here had changed her; she was now just as weak as the humans. But she was Irken nonetheless, and I respected her for that.

I sipped at the soup They Fight had invented for me by command of Dib and served to me to help me recover better. It had certain plants and chemicals in it that aided Irken development. And because my skin was still very sensitive, I needed all of the support I could get. Receiving help from humans didn't feel right, but I had no other choice. Dib was utterly stunned at the so-called "change" in my personality, and he completely forgave me for everything that had happened in the past, so it seemed. As well he should. It was not my fault the Tallest came to Earth and ruined his life. It was not my fault at all. And I believed he understood that.

Of course, having swallowed quite a critical amount of toxic Earth water, my innards were still recovering. And though the "soup" tasted good, it was of no help to me as far as my stomach was concerned. But whatever my body decided to reject, seemingly making no discrimination between Earth food and Irken, I had no say in the matter at all. Whenever, wherever . . . Recovery reeked, that was all I had to say about it. I was only lucky They Fight could spare a small, tin bucket that I had kept by my side since we figured out the pattern. So far, however, this batch of soup had not sickened me, only warming my still freezing body and making me more comfortable. Hopefully the vomiting spells were over.

Jiss was sitting next to me on the table, her arm around me. Her punishment for helping me in secret was to keep a watch over me, pamper me and clean up after me until I felt better. Truth be told; it was a bit of a messy job, what with my half-burned organs constantly working to free my body of contaminates, but _somebody_ had to do it. Many jokes and puns circled through the camp at the humor and irony of it all, some of which I had heard. Though I didn't understand quite why, it was clear humans were amused by vile body functions. Strange, yes, but I could relate. I had laughed at Dib on many occasions at such things. Then again, I had completely hated him in those times. Not that I still do not; I do very much so. But he was the one who called the shots here. He could have just as easily ordered me thrown off a cliff as he had ordered me to be saved. I dared not argue with anything he said while here.

"What an experience," Jiss stated, careful to keep her voice quiet for me. I was a bit sensitive to loud noises at the moment. "I don't know many Irkens who have survived almost drowning." Yes, but it was getting to where I wished I hadn't. I was not enjoying my life at all. It was almost as if I was back at the IDR; all the attention, and Jiss constantly keeping me in her sight . . . there was no place to escape where people would leave me alone. But if I didn't just accept it and focus my thoughts on other things, I would never recover. I had to take certain medicines to keep from becoming dehydrated, and the only ones who had access to those medicines were TF Med team. Dib controlled everything in They Fight, being their commander, including TF Med team. No Dib, no med team. No Med team, no medicine. No medicine . . . no Zim. I had to be careful what I said and how I said it, just like every human here and Jiss.

Dropping the spoon back down in the half-empty bowl, I coughed, feeling my stomach suddenly overturn. Immediately I leaned away from Jiss towards the bucket and put a hand on it for support. Breathing slowly and deeply, I was able to calm myself. After a few moments, I relaxed and sat up straight. Perhaps things truly _were_ getting better, I thought. Perhaps there would be no more suffering. But I knew that logic stated I would only be completely better after my vital organs had healed. You see, med team had no problem with the outside skin; that was easy. How, I didn't know. But apparently organs were something else entirely to them. How could technology advance as far as allowing us to walk on top of water, yet not advance to finding a way to repair acid-singed interns?

"Are you okay?" Jiss asked me softly, placing her arm back around me after having removed it to allow me to get sick. Of course, now she and I both knew I had not and would not yet. It was strange how she seemed so concerned for me. I had never done anything to make her like me except give her a little extra energy. And that meant hardly anything.

After sighing, I answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. False alarm." I gulped a ball of saliva that had formed in my mouth from not swallowing. I felt horrible. And I was not fine, nor okay for that matter. Ohh, my stomach . . . when would it all end?

"You don't _look_ fine," Jiss protested, taking note of my ill expression and slouched position. She somehow always figured me out. If I was lying, she knew; if I didn't want to do something, she understood; if I disliked something, she could tell. It was almost as if she knew me better than I knew myself. But perhaps her knowing and understanding of my feelings, physical and mental, was a good thing considering the circumstances.

"Really," I insisted, "I feel all right for the moment." I hoped she would accept that as the end of it so we could continue about our normal lives, which for the moment I suppose consisted of just this, so truly I was only trying to keep her at a reasonable distance pertaining to both my physical and mental space. I wanted room. And I did not enjoy her asking me how I felt or if I was okay. Those kinds of questions made me uncomfortable. Then again, she was only doing her job and making sure everything was continuing as it should, but _still_ it made me uncomfortable. It was like she _had_ to know, and if she did not then there was something horribly wrong with the Space-time continuum or some nonsense of such likeness.

I saw the way Jiss looked at me; her eyes showed something more than just worry and concern. There was something else present, but I couldn't figure out what. Some kind of emotion, or feeling . . . something. Whatever it may be, I knew I did not understand it. Perhaps it was "love", but I knew we Irkens were incapable of such things, so that must not be the case. Still, that something else there was completely unidentifiable for me. Love seemed like the only option left.

Without quite knowing I was saying it, I wondered aloud, "What is the strange emotion you are looking at me with?" Almost instantly I regretted letting the question slip out, fearful it would offend her. But on the other hand, I was curious. Maybe she would answer, and explain everything about it. Maybe she could elaborate to an extent that I would understand.

I saw her appear to hesitate at first, and then look at me very sadly as she answered, "It is something like affection." Yes, affection. I knew I had recognized it from somewhere. But it had been almost a lifetime since I had seen true affection. And even if I could have remembered who I had seen it in, it would not matter. I only knew I remembered "affection" from a time when I was a smeet. A very long time ago . . .

"Jiss, it's as if I know you from somewhere," I pointed out to her about that look in her eyes; so familiar that it was almost scary. "And I know I've seen that expression before. It's just . . . I can't quite remember who it was, but she was much like you."

She seemed rather sad by my remark. Had I said something wrong? Had I somehow frustrated her? Wait . . . no, no, that was not it. She seemed to be trying to recall an event, much like I had just now. It was as if she was reliving a horrible experience that tore her life apart. Suddenly, she shook the images off and seemed to return to normal. But something was still wrong; I could tell. Something troubled her.

"Zim, I think it's time I told you something," she said, rather confusing me. What was she talking about? "I know you haven't seen me for almost two hundred and sixty-one years, and . . . well, I just think you might need reminding. I want to tell you about what happened a long time ago - what happened when you were still a smeet. You may not remember, but I do. I remember all too well . . ."

This was still a bit confusing, but I was beginning to understand what she was getting at. Something had happened when I was still a smeet that I couldn't remember. I recalled often trying to remember bits and pieces of my past such as this, but every time I tried I became frustrated when the memories never came. It was almost as if it had been erased from my life entirely.

"You might not know it, Zim," she continued, "but you are very special. And I could quite possibly be the _only_ one who knows it. I know why you can't remember a certain time in your life, and it's because that information was removed from your Pak's memory . . . and from the _entire_ Collective Memory. It was erased and no person alive knows what happened to you except me." I listened carefully to see if she would continue, but instead she pulled something out of her pocket. It was a small charm that had circuits at one end where it appeared to be broken. It was small, glowing green, and looked like a glass gem. Of course, gems to not have circuitry in them.

Awed, I stared at the charm for a long time before blinking. I recognized it! That charm was the exact same as the one I had! I didn't know where I got it; I'd had it since before I could remember. But for some reason, that was the same as mine was! It was almost as if she had duplicated mine with a clone machine . . .

I carefully reached behind myself and opened up my Pak. I felt around it for a moment before finding the cloaking device that hid my little charm from the rest of the circuitry. I tapped it, and then felt that tiny bit of energy die. I turned my back to Jiss and showed her the thing that I had kept since smeet age, which was undoubtedly lodged in there somewhere. Just as I knew she would, she reached in and detached the charm from the circuit I had connected it to and showed it to me. Turning back around, I took it from her and compared it to hers.

The two charms were not alike as I had originally thought. But instead, something else amazing related the two. And if it did not work perfectly as it did, I never would have believed that the event was real. Slowly, I reached my hand out to hers; both of us holding our charms circuit side outward. The two charms fit together perfectly, like they had been split on purpose somehow. Together, they created a beautiful glowing green gem. And as Jiss let go of it, I felt it slipping up out of my hands until at last it hovered in front of me. With no antigravity simulators, this thing was hovering!

"Okay, Zim," said Jiss, still with a sad tone, "this information is very important. It will only play back when both halves are connected, and it will only play once. So you have to pay attention or you'll never know why part of your past is missing." I nodded in reply. This was by far the most amazing thing I had uncovered about myself ever. And finally I was going to know what had happened such a long time ago . . .

: Memory Chip :

Computerized video playback:

Earth year 1989; Planet Irk.

The tiny Irken smeet stared out at the world before him, which had only restored its energy one year ago. It was much different from the underground learning facilities he had known for six years. Bright and noisy, and now the home he would come to know, this planet was indeed the greatest in the universe. It was no wonder why everybody looked up to it.

"Freedom!" cried the smeet, joyous and excited. His eyes sparkled at the sight of the mighty Irken race in front of him. And he had just happened to make his escape in the best place possible: Kanrath, the largest city on Irk and indeed the heart of the Irken civilization. As he gazed out at the surface of the planet, he said to himself, "Hmm . . . a pitiful world, waiting for me to make it great!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise from below. The little smeet glanced back down through the hole his other half still was, and saw his partner being chased by a Dermis Prowler Security Droid. The thing shot a laser from one of its arms at the smeet's partner, hitting him directly and blasting him through the ceiling of the underground room, which happened to be the floor of the actual surface. Even after sending that poor thing sky-high, the Droid continued to chase after him.

Going back to what he had been looking at in awe, the smeet smiled at the sight of a double sun in the sky, one large and the other more of a close star. And he realized the reason he was not attracting too much attention was because the hole he was looking out of was located between two buildings in an alley. His eyes caught sight of something glowing in the distance: the power core. It ran the power for the entire planet.

The smeet squinted to see two falling figures heading directly for the power core. Suddenly, they both crashed into it. The smeet closed his eyes and ducked his head down as a blinding light overtook the city. But just as quickly as it had appeared, the light was gone, replaced with total and complete darkness other than the suns. And the suns' light was rather dim compared to the bright lights of Irk. About as dim as a small light bulb in a dark closet. You see, Irk was not exactly the closest planet to its suns.

An Irken who had only recently been released from the learning facilities who now was on patrol squad, waiting to become an elite soldier, stopped and stared; as did everyone else on the planet. Every light went dead; every generator turned off; every backup generator failed. But something stood out amidst the chaos: a tiny smeet who, though ambitious, was standing alone and frightened. He had walked out from the alley that hid him.

Slowly, the patrol officer named Jiss walked over to him. She grabbed his bare arm and ordered, "No smeets who have not completed their information intake are allowed on the surface of Irk." And she began dragging him away to the leader of the entire Irken race: Almighty Tallest Miyuki. But the smeet did not wish to leave as soon as he had arrived. He struggled and tried to pull away from her.

"Wait! You're making a mistake!" he cried, desperate. "I am different than the others! You have to believe me! Surely you have heard of Zim?"

Jiss stopped in her tracks. She turned and looked at the smeet in disbelief. "_You're_ Zim?" she asked, stunned. "The one who caused the Horrible Painful Overload Day?"

Zim smiled desperately and nodded. "Yes! I did!" he answered quickly, hoping she would change her mind. He felt beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead.

Jiss looked around for a moment, not sure if what she was about to do was legal, then leaned down and whispered, "It's dark. Nobody's going to notice two missing Irkens. Just follow me." He nodded, and she led him away.

The strangest place appeared before Zim's eyes, as the two walked into what seemed like the back side of a large building. But Zim learned it was actually some holographically hidden tunnel. It was dark as well, but tiny green crystals lined the sides, and dull purple and blue plants grew in-between the rocks that set at the foot of the tunnel. The actual tunnel itself was not rocks, but some kind of metal, like titanium or something of the sort. Altogether the place was just weird.

"Where are we?" asked Zim, perplexed and amazed.

"One of the last places on Irk where anything thrives anymore," Jiss answered, only further confusing him. "In here, plants grow, tiny creatures live, and Irk's original nature cycle continues. It has to be kept dark, though, or we risk it being discovered. You see, only certain Irkens can see what is in here-"

"_I_ can see what is in here," Zim interrupted.

Jiss paused. "You can?" she asked. Zim nodded in response. "But this is pitch black. You'd have to have ocular nocturnal implants to see anything in here, and only certain Irkens have them. Even the Almighty Tallest does not have them."

Zim shrugged. "I see rocks, plants, and little glowing green crystals on the walls. But it _is_ a little dark . . ."

"Amazing," Jiss commented. "Perhaps smeets' vision is better than grown Irkens'." They continued to walk, and Zim continued to witness one astounding thing after another. Creatures he had only read about were going about their lives in front of him; plants that were claimed to be extinct were thriving and multiplying; Cyrillic Acid dripped from the top of the tunnel onto rock formations that were jutting from the ground. It was all so breathtaking!

After awhile of walking, Zim asked, "What is this place, and what is its function?"

"You will find out very soon," Jiss answered. Zim accepted this response as _good enough._

A light shown from around a corner, almost blindingly bright compared to the darkness. Shadows flickered back and forth across the walls, too blurred to be recognizable. Zim covered his eyes with his free arm as they neared it.

"Jiss!" called a female voice from the light. A shadow that had been flickering suddenly darted out of view as another Irken ran to Jiss and hugged her. "You're back! I thought I wouldn't see you for another two weeks while you were on duty!"

"I had to come _now,_" answered Jiss as the other Irken let her go. "I just found the most outspoken Irken on the planet." She motioned to Zim, who backed behind her legs and waved nervously.

"This is Zim?" asked the other Irken, kneeling down and looking Zim in the eyes. "He sure is a cute little smeet, isn't he?" She petted his head and stroked his antennae. "You know," she said to him, "you are going to be the one who is going to turn this horrible planet around."

"I am?" asked Zim, confused. "I mean, I was _planning_ on it, but . . . did I miss something?"

The other Irken was about to answer, but Jiss put her hand up in a gesture to stop. "We'll let Jewel explain." The other Irken nodded, and the three walked into the light. Zim removed his arm from his eyes once again and blinked a couple of times. It was very bright, but his eyes quickly adjusted.

There were four other Irkens sitting at a table, looking over schematics and pictures. One was female, the other three male. The surroundings here were not dark at all. If anything, they were homey. A single light hung from the low ceiling, and there were shelves on the walls alongside a few framed pictures. Jars and pots were set on the shelves, some with paintings on them and others without, many of them holding plants. This place was unlike any place Zim had ever seen, yet he seemed to be seeing a lot of new things lately, starting with Irk's surface. _"Is all of Irk like this?"_ he wondered.

"Protector Jiss reporting in," said Jiss. "I have brought the Irken you requested."

The female Irken stood up from her seat and walked over to Jiss, the still unnamed Irken, and Zim. She smiled at Zim's concerned expression.

"Do you have any questions, or has everything been made clear to you?" she asked.

After thinking about it, Zim answered, "What is this place, who are you, and what is going on?"

The three female Irkens all snickered. The one who seemed to be in charge answered, "We are called the Protectors. We are fighting to save what tiny bit is left of Irk's natural life forms, which are unfortunately all found here. My name is Jewel, and I am the commander. The one you are holding onto is Jiss, and beside her is Lonny. The three behind me are Draff, Skid, and Kan. Besides Jiss, we all stay down here to monitor the environment. Jiss doubles as a Patrol Officer, but that is only so she can spy on the outside world and gather information."

"Why do you need _me?_" Zim asked.

"We need you because you are persistent; ambitious. When you set your mind to something, you do it, and nothing can distract you. We want you to help us. We want you to speak out for us and tell the world of our cause."

"And before I do this, do I need to go through some sort of training?"

Lonny smiled. "Not in so many words. But yes! And I'm-"

"Not going to take this one," Jewel interrupted. "I am going to train Zim, along with Jiss. You may help, but this is no ordinary Irken we are dealing with."

"I'm only a smeet," Zim argued.

"Yes," agreed Jewel, "but you are an amazing smeet who is capable of amazing things. We may be the only ones who recognize your talents. Everybody else sees you as annoying."

Zim felt a little offended. He didn't think he was that annoying. He crossed his arms as he looked at Jewel, waiting for further instructions.

"When shall we begin training?" asked Jiss to Jewel, grabbing Zim's attention.

Jewel smiled suspiciously. "Right now."

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

Ah, yes, see? Jewel is important. Told ya back in chapter 2. Don't believe me? Go check! Oh, and that begin part of the memory chip thingey . . . that was from the episode The Trial, one that… unfortunately… was never made. :cries:

Anyway, there's one little thing in here that I want you to know: Cyrillic Acid is the Irken equivalent of water. It's like, water's acid-opposite or something. I dunno. I'll stop talking now, before I make any more brains hurt besides my own.

Thanks for all the comments, readers! I look forward to more! Considering none of you have read past chapter 2, yet (November 28, 2005)…. So sad…

Oh well. The story is young. There are, like, twenty-something-soon-to-be-thirty-something chapters. I'm sure someone, at least, will read more eventually.


	6. Realization

**Chapter Six**

**Realization**

: Z :

This was the most astounding thing I had ever witnessed. Here, right before my eyes, memories began to flow into my brain, recreated from this playback I was watching of myself doing things I never remembered. It was as if this were not me, but some other Irken smeet experiencing all of this. And the place I was in . . . it was so different from anything I have ever seen before. The "Protectors", they called themselves? There had been rebellion groups against the Irken Empire before? I never knew that Irkens could be so individual, so different from the rest . . .

But what really got me was all of the familiar faces I saw on the playback. Not only my own and Jiss's, but the Irken that greeted us . . . she was Lonny from IDR Facility Three! And I instantly recognized Kan as Kraak. Now Jewel was someone whom I not only recognized, but feared as well. Her face was printed onto my brain forever. But in all the time I had spent with her, I had never known she could be such a leader, such a . . . different person. She was not the same as I knew her. I never would have guessed Boss to have a part in the erased part of my childhood.

And now some parts of the dream I had had the night before were also becoming clearer. Jewel was Boss's real name. And the hovering bubble with numbers in it had to be the crystal playing my memories back. As strange as the dream had been, and as little as I could recall . . . it made sense. Still, many things remained unanswered, such as why in the dream Boss attacked me, and what the dark figure with the horrible, scarred face had to do with anything . . .

My name! Yes, I understood now how Jiss had known my name! We had met before, and she recognized me. It was as if this missing piece of my life would tie everything together at last, and I would no longer have to question everything going on. But still, many things were blurry to me. And I might possibly never understand them. But as long as _some_ parts were clear, I had no problem forgetting the rest.

One other thing I couldn't understand was the expression Jiss was showing me right now. How come it looked so familiar? She was very formal and serious in the playback, so perhaps it was not her after all that I remembered with the expression, but another Irken, such as Lonny or Boss . . . Whoever it was, I was sure to find out as the playback continued.

Suddenly, a blindingly bright light overtook everything, followed by a low, deafening sound. A gust of wind blew past everything, rocking the tent and carrying with it screams and cries. The crystal that had been hovering before me suddenly lost its anti-gravity ability, and the image it projected disappeared as it broke in two. I reached out my hands as the two pieces fell, and caught them in midair. I put the pieces in my pocket. What had happened? My eyes were still recovering from the light, and my antennae were still pinned against the back of my head.

I jumped off the table and looked around. Jiss? Where was Jiss? She was gone! But she couldn't have simply disappeared, could she? _Could_ she? I knew not if They Fight had access to such advanced cloaking technology. Perhaps they did, but then wouldn't Jiss have told me? Then again, she could have been saving it for later on, when I had mastered a few new Pak Tech advances . . .

I ran out of the tent and saw half of They Fight lying on the ground, covered in dark red blood that was flowing from their bodies like tiny rivers. The others that were still alive were also covered in blood, and running around me, fleeing to the woods opposite the pond. The majority of their clothes were in shreds. I looked to the sky, and saw hundreds of tiny fighter crafts surrounding one large one. It was obvious now what was happening: the Tallest had sent the Irken military to destroy They Fight once and for all, including me. And from the looks of things, a miniature atomic missile had been dropped. The half of the humans that lay dead must have been the closest, and the other half, now mostly out of my sight, had been farther away.

Activating my new holographic disguise so I wouldn't be captured by my own people for treason, I ran after the others, hoping to find Jiss somewhere among them. I prayed I would be able to see her again. But her disappearance was very odd. One second she was sitting next to me, the next . . . she was gone. It was as if she'd been teleported from my side right before the missile had been dropped. But how . . .?

Catching up with the others quickly, I saw they were fleeing to another pond, this one larger and most likely deeper. They were gathered on the shore, all talking and crying and questioning. Suddenly, all of the water in the pond shot sky high in front of them, forming a thick wall of moisture that no Irken alive could withstand. One by one, faster and faster, the humans went through the wall, crossing over to the dry side where the water once stood, until they all were there. How had they managed to do this? Walking on top of the water was one thing, but completely moving a pond full of it to make a wall? There was no possible way! And didn't they know this would only slow the fleet down a little? All they had to do was go over the thing . . .

The water began glowing green, and suddenly spread out infinitely in all directions, rushing everywhere! Up, left, right, back, and . . . directly at me! I would be the last member of They Fight alive to be engulfed by the enchanted water. There would be no dry spot any more. The planet was being covered with glowing green water! Closer and closer the wall of water came. I was panicking! What would I do? I had to think. Come on, Zim! Think!

The force field. It would block everything, including water. I crouched down, and silently screamed out the thought command in my head. The holograph that had hidden me disappeared. Two small, pointy prongs emerged from my Pak and generated an ectoplasmic energy shield around me just as the wall of water flowed over me. I closed my eyes. I knew there was immense pressure just outside of this tiny bubble, and staying in it was my only hope. Perhaps the strange "water" would merely go away.

I opened my eyes and looked up to see all of the Irken ships explode into a million pieces, bits of green flesh and purple blood in the debris. Everything fell to the ground as if the water was not water at all! There was nothing there resisting the Earth's gravity. But what did that mean? This was all an illusion? This wasn't real? Wait! Of course! This was just another dream! I was completely safe. I was sound asleep, back in the tent with Jiss by my side. She had probably stopped the video playback for me so I could see the rest when I would wake up.

I wished I could wake up now more than anything. I had to wake up! This was a dream! It wasn't real! It was just an image generated by my subconscious! Please, please let me wake up! Please!

I glanced at the humans. They were just fine. Nothing had happened to them at all. In fact, they were already beginning tending to their wounds. I saw Dib in the crowd, yelling out commands. But I saw no Jiss. Where was she? If this was a dream, and I was not going to wake up yet, then I at least wanted to know what was going on and where she had gone.

I glanced behind me. There was another figure not unlike my own, crouched down with an ectoplasmic energy shield around it. But it wasn't Irken, so it seemed. It . . . it was Jiss! She had preformed the same move I had! But why? She told me she had certain water repelling Pak Tech advances, and that was how she was able to dive in after me and save me from drowning. If that was so, then didn't she only have to use them now? Or was this something different?

Careful not to move my limbs out of the energy shield, I began crawling towards her on my hands and knees. The shield moved with me, being generated from my Pak and all. I was inching closer and closer to her. I could see her eyes were closed, and she was gritting her teeth. There were tears all over her face, and she was holding her head in her arms while rocking back and forth slowly. Why was she so upset? Perhaps one of her human friends had been in the half that had died or something. This was so pathetic for an Irken warrior like her!

I was only feet away from her. I could hear her whispering something. Chin? Chim . . . shim . . . Zim! She was whispering my name for some reason. Why _my_ name? Why _me?_ What had I done to cause her to be so upset? I felt so guilty now, seeing the way she was acting. Even though no Irken should ever behave this way, it was still sad. I never meant to hurt her feelings, whatever I'd done.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to her. "I didn't mean to make you upset."

Her eyes snapped open, and I found she was looking directly at me with what seemed like fear. She backed away slightly, energy bubble following her. What on Irk had I done? I apologized to her. Was it my appearance? I quickly looked over myself, and found everything to be in perfect condition besides what the water had effected that Med Team hadn't fixed. What was wrong? Dear Tallest, I wish I knew!

"What are you!" she cried, almost losing her balance and falling, she was backing away so fast. "Zim isn't alive! There's no way! He never would have known . . . What . . . what are you?"

"It's _me,_ Jiss," I said to her, still trying to figure out what was going on. How could I prove to her that it was me? And what was she talking about, saying I wasn't alive? Such a strange dream this was, yes . . . so strange. And she looked so scared . . .

"Zim?" she asked with much doubt. "Zim, is that really you? You're alive?"

I nodded, hoping that not saying anything would help the situation. Suddenly she leaned forward and her bubble bumped into mine, forming one slightly larger bubble around both of us. She wrapped her arms around me and cried. What had happened that I'd missed? There was an attack on They Fight's camp, and the remaining humans fled to this pond place, where the water destroyed the Irken fighters when it took over everything. And now suddenly Jiss was holding me close to her and crying.

"Oh, Zim, I thought you were dead," she sobbed. "I thought you were destroyed by the Species DNA Power Four! I . . . I'm just so glad you're okay." What was she talking about? And what had happened? I was so confused! I hated dreams. I hated dreams so much that it wasn't even remotely humorous. I had never, in my entire life, seen any Irken act this pathetic.

Deciding enough was enough, I demanded, "Tell me how come you disappeared earlier, and explain what happened with that pond and the glowing water. I order you to tell me this instant! Tell me!" I pushed her away and she fell backwards, separating our bubbles once more. She looked upset, even behind her holographic disguise. But her emotions didn't affect me in the slightest. If anything, I only viewed them as annoying.

"I used the latest, most complicated Pak Tech advance Earth could offer," she began, "and was able to teleport to another location. I'm sorry I left you. But when I saw the rest of They Fight heading for the Species DNA Power Four generator, I knew I had to take cover. I couldn't teleport back, because it takes too much energy to teleport _once_ to try it _again._ So I ran as far away as I could before the Species DNA Power Four generator activated, and I surrounded myself with an ectoplasmic energy shield. That's what happened, okay? That's what happened."

I didn't understand. Pak Tech had advanced far enough to make teleportation possible without a destination programmer or tele-pod? And what was a Species DNA Power Four generator? I'd never heard of anything like that before. So many holes in this dream! So many unanswered questions! It was maddening!

"What's a Species DNA Power Four generator?" I asked, hoping this time to get a better answer. Or _any_ answer, for that matter. Perhaps it had something to do with the strange pond and its glowing green water . . .

"It's like a Vetkin Detonator System," Jiss answered. "It was designed to take out anything with the DNA it's matched to, and They Fight programmed it to recognize Irkens. Any Irken who is touched by the lasers and anything surrounding them will be completely obliterated. Didn't you see what it did to those ships and their pilots? They were dead before they knew what was coming! If you hadn't activated your energy shield . . ." She let that hang. She knew I understood. But it still didn't explain the connection with the pond. Or perhaps it was never a pond at all! Maybe it was a Species DNA Power Four from the start, and it was only _disguised_ as a pond, like so many other things are disguised around here. And the water wasn't really water. It was the deadly laser that was programmed to rip apart Irken flesh.

I understood completely now. The Irkens had come, and used a mini-atomic on They Fight. The survivors had fled to the Species DNA Power Four generator to lure the ships close enough, then activated it and destroyed them. Jiss had teleported away, but then found out about the generator and surrounded herself with an energy shield. I had run after the fleeing humans, but panicked when I saw the generator, and also surrounded myself with an energy shield. The humans weren't affected by the lasers the generator released, but the Irken ships were ripped apart. Jiss and I would have been also, if not for protecting ourselves.

This was no dream; this was a close call.

-----

Jiss and I were walking around the pond now, just thinking over the events that had happened two days ago and making light conversation. _I_ was completely out of my disguise, but _she_ still hadn't removed the hologram that concealed her. It was sunset, and the gray sky had tints of orange, red and purple where the sun was – not that the sun itself was visible. Birds added to the chorus of crickets that sang, filling the air with Earth's many antennae-piercing sounds. But it had gotten to where I could simply ignore it until it became _too_ overbearing. To add to the situation, there was a slight breeze that caused the trees to sway every once in a while, and the temperature was a bit cool. For some strange reason, while we were walking and the wind caused me to shiver, Jiss took off her own jacket and wrapped it around me. True: I was much warmer, but I couldn't figure out why she had done this.

Still, I let it go and we continued walking. Around and around the pond we went, only to witness the light fading and the sharp noise the crickets created get louder. We passed the same group of Lilly Pads at least five times. By then, I was only in need of pausing to rest for a moment, but by now I was exhausted and almost out of breath. Jiss, however, looked as if she could continue on into the twelfth of never. How did she do it? Well, perhaps four and a half years of training had something to do with it, but personally, I always believed she was just amazing.

Hopefully we would be heading back to the campsite soon - or at least what was left of it. After the role call, we were informed only twenty-three of us remained, including Jiss and me. Luckily, none of her human "friends" had been obliterated with the fourteen that didn't make it. She was very lucky. Other members had lost brothers, sisters, best friends, and relatives to the enemy. Strange, how I referred to my _own race_ as "the enemy". I never had _before._ But according to Jiss, this cause was something better to fight for compared to universal conquest, so I was on another side now. In a way, I guess my race _was_ the enemy.

Jiss put her hand around me and we stopped walking. She sat down, and I did the same gladly and without question. I was so tired . . . I didn't care if I never got up again. I could sit here forever and be very happy. I sighed of relief.

"Zim, I have something very special to give you," Jiss said to me. I wondered what she meant. She had a gift for me? Or perhaps just another Pak Tech advance for my training. Whatever it was, I was sure I would enjoy it. Jiss seemed to know exactly what I liked somehow. I suspected it was because of the time we had spent together in the past.

"Look at that insect," she told me, pointing to a nearby bug with two sets of long, crystal clear wings and a stick-like abdomen. I had seen them before around here, but I had forgotten what they were called. "What do you think its purpose is in the universe? Do you think it will make any difference to anybody if I just killed it?"

I wasn't sure I understood the question. I shrugged, answering, "Not really." What significance did one tiny, infantile creature with half of a brain have? It didn't, that's what. There would be no tears shed for it if it were to die in an instant; no people to mourn over its death. It had no place at all, as small as it was. Who cared if she killed it? If _she_ didn't, _I_ would without hesitation.

I noticed she was staring at me with pity in her eyes. Why was she looking at me that way? I was perfectly fine. The remaining effects the water had on me had completely worn away yesterday, and the Species DNA Power Four had done nothing to me. I was alive and well, as was she. Everything was perfect! So there had been a loss of fourteen people. So what? Was that why she was upset?

"You're wrong, Zim," Jiss said sadly. I was wrong? How? "Life is something that should be valued, no matter how small or seemingly worthless. This tiny, blue Dragonfly could contribute to a scientific breakthrough that would end cancer, as impossible as it seems. Even the smallest ant has a purpose. And if you think about it, we are no different than insects. We live, multiply, and do everything we can to survive until our death. Comparing us to Earth's insectesoid life, wouldn't you say _our_ lives are meaningless as well?"

Our lives: meaningless? It didn't seem possible. Jiss was fighting for human freedom, as was I now. If we won, the humans would no longer have to suffer under the Irken rule, and life on this planet would return to normal. Our lives were not meaningless at all! We had a purpose now . . . didn't we?

"Of course not," I answered, hoping I was answering correctly. I wasn't sure what she was asking, exactly. She had said life was worth valuing, but now she was asking me if our lives were meaningless. It didn't make any sense. Her mind was so complex compared to any other! She was confusing me. But what was she going to give me? She _had_ said she was going to give me something, didn't she?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny microchip, this one a little different from the others I had seen. But it still resembled a Pak Tech advancement, so that was most likely what it was. I hoped this one would be easier to master than the _other_ I had tried out. _That_ almost led to my death. Hopefully this time, the Tech had nothing to do with water. Water was painful. But I didn't understand how the meaning of life tied into a Pak Tech advancement . . .

"This is an overrider chip," she explained, further confusing me. I had no idea what an overrider chip was. "It will disable the emotion block your Pak contains. I know you don't understand what I'm talking about yet, but you will in a few days or so. Just give it some time, and things will be different. Your view on life and the cause we fight for will completely change. So turn around, and I'll insert it for you."

I was eager to find out what she was talking about. I liked to understand things. So without question or hesitation, I turned my back to her, and allowed her to, once again, fiddle with the tiny circuits and wiring inside my Pak. It didn't take her long; she was done within less than thirty seconds, and she closed off the opening that had been made and patted the thing a couple of times.

"Done," she announced. I expected to feel different, but everything was the same. Nothing had changed at all! Goodness, what had she done? It was like she only _upgraded _some _old_ technology; everything felt the same, but I could tell something was different. I still couldn't place what. I tried using a thought command to activate the thing, like I had done with Pak Tech 4407218, but nothing happened. I was confused. Why had she added something that had no purpose?

"What is it supposed to do?" I asked, a little annoyed. Come on and explain already!

Jiss smiled at me. "You'll figure it out eventually. It shouldn't take long." She paused and looked up at the stars appearing in the sky. "Well, I'm going to go back to the campsite. You just take the time to think about that Dragonfly." She got up and stretched, then began walking towards camp. She turned for a moment, still walking, and waved to me. I didn't understand why. What on Irk had she done to me?

She was out of my sight. "Take the time to think about the Dragonfly," she had said. . . . But what was there to think about? It was just an insect. It had no purpose. That tiny, blue dragonfly only ate mosquitoes, mated, and left its waste on the ground. It had no purpose. Why did she want me to think about such a boring, pointless creature?

I stared at the thing. It was resting on a blade of grass that was poking out of the water. The wind blew the grass blade, causing it to hover (and _me_ to _shiver_), then stopped and the Dragonfly landed once again. I stared at it very hard, concentrating. The wings had a pattern like broken glass, now that I took the time to look at it. And the blue abdomen had tiny stripes that separated the bending points. The thorax had six legs protruding from it, three on each side. The head consisted of two large eyes, a pair of antennae -which made me smile thinking of the humorous similarity- and mouthparts.

What was special about this creature? I still didn't understand. . . . Looking around, I realized there were more than one of the insects. At first, they all appeared to be the same, aside from color. But analyzing them more closely, I realized each was different. Every one had individual features that distinguished it from the others. Something stood out on each one. The one to my right had wings with a tint of orange, where the one to my left had wings tinted blue. And the one in front of me had wings with no tint at all - crystal clear.

Each was different. I realized if one was destroyed, nothing could ever replace it. Its individuality and natural beauty would be lost, gone forever and not able to be brought back. Perhaps this was what Jiss had wanted me to realize. Still, these pests were a waste of my time thinking about. True: if one was lost, it could not be replaced, but they were _still_ just insects. Nobody cared about insects . . .

Jiss had compared our civilization to these insects, though. And now, I saw that there was more truth to this comparison than I ever thought possible. No two Irkens were the same, as were humans and virtually everything else in this universe except clones. Compare: . . . If one insect was destroyed, it could not be replaced. Its distinguishing features would never be remembered. If one Irken was destroyed . . . or if one human was destroyed . . .

They could not be replaced by another. What made them the way they are was not their physical features, though, like the bugs of this planet. No. What distinguished Irkens and humans and many other races were the thoughts and feelings and emotions we experienced. All of our ideas, and our accomplishments. Our talents, our weaknesses, our pleasures, our dislikes . . . all of the work we put forth to get to where we are today . . . all _gone_ if we were destroyed.

All gone in a heartbeat.

I reached out my hand and held out a finger in front of the Dragonfly. Slowly and cautiously it climbed onto me, curious about the new surroundings that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. I brought it close to my eyes and looked at it carefully. If I killed it -which I easily could- it would no longer exist. The intricate broken glass pattern on its wings would forever be lost, and the many pupils inside of its large, dome-like eyes would never again see the light of day. The colorful patterns on its thorax would also be gone, as would the stripes on its abdomen. It may not be missed . . . but it could not be replaced.

Tears formed in my eyes as I thought of all the lives that had been lost to the Irken Empire. The Dragonfly flew away into the night air, free and happy and eager. The humans could not fly away, though. They were forced to work for us. And what was sad was that . . . what made them beautiful and unique was not allowed to be shown. We had made it so they were all the same -slaves- and not even _one_ could be different.

I brought my knees up close to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. My antennae had fallen to the sides of my head in sorrow. _What had I done?_ The reason the Irkens were on Earth and tormenting the humans was because of me. I had begged the Tallest to let me become an Invader, so they sent me here. If only I had accepted my punishment on Foodcourtia and never left. If only I hadn't ruined Operation Impending Doom One. If only I hadn't created the Infinite Energy Absorbing Thing. If only . . . _I_ hadn't been created. It was _all my fault . . ._

I cried.

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

And he realizes that NOW. Goodness. But why now? What happened? The answer is obvious, readers: the overrider chip that Jiss gave him. It has a purpose: to disconnect the emotion blocks that keep Irkens from "feeling".

And now that he's free to understand and cry and feel guilty . . . I wonder what _other_ emotions he will run into.


	7. It's Called Love

**Chapter Seven**

**It's Called Love**

: J :

Everything was silent. The full moon shown brightly in the sky, creating shadows that would normally only be visible in the day. I was standing watch to make sure nobody could sneak up on us and attack. We had had enough battles for this week, yet not near enough raids. We had been left with only twenty-three soldiers, and what did we have to show for the loss? A few scratched up pieces of cloth for tents and bloodstains on our clothes. No technology, no weapons . . . only losses.

I hoped Zim was okay. I had inserted the Overrider chip into his Pak to open his eyes to the true meaning of life, but I hadn't heard from him since sunset. The moon was already in the middle of the sky. I had checked on him a couple of times, but he was only sitting where he had been when I left him, wrapped in my jacket. He had hardly moved at all. I was beginning to worry about him. But whatever he was thinking about, I knew it had to be something significant at least. The Overrider chip neutralized the emotion control, meaning he was now able to feel and think for himself – at least, more than he used to. He had always been unique, and now what made him unique could show. Hopefully I hadn't done any damage, though . . .

Suddenly I heard something. I turned around fast and shined my flashlight towards the sound. I jumped at the sight of something with large, reddish-pink eyes! . . . Zim! Goodness, he had scared me. But my smile at seeing my error vanished when I saw his expression. He was so sad, and so quiet. He was looking at the ground as he walked over to me. I wondered what had been on his mind lately.

"Zim . . .?" I whispered, hoping he would answer. He didn't. What was wrong with him? Was he still not feeling well because of the whole "water incident"? Or was it something more? Perhaps he was merely cold. It was winter, after all. But nobody kept track of the seasons or days anymore. Nobody cared. As far as we all knew, it could be the middle of summer. As for the cold weather . . . well, there was no sunshine any more, either.

Zim approached me quietly. He was looking at the ground, eyes half closed. I could see now that he had tears in his eyes as well. What happened next was something I would never have expected. Zim grabbed the corners of my holographic shirt and held them tight, burying his face into my torso. He was crying . . . What had I done? Why was he so upset?

"It's okay, Zim," I comforted, gently stroking his antennae, which were pinned to the back of his head. I slowly let myself slip down to his level on my knees so I could hold him close to my heart. Whatever had happened, I knew the best thing I could do for him was let him know everything was all right. I was here for him, and I always would be. No matter what.

"It's okay."

: Z :

How could I have been so blind for so long? How could I not see all that there was to be seen? It was as if I suddenly had twelve senses instead of the standard seven. There was something there that hadn't been there before, but I still couldn't quite place what it was. It was something wonderful, yet at the same time horrible. Something I couldn't describe. But I knew if I didn't have Jiss here to explain what was going on, then I would be left in the dark – left to figure everything out on my own. Thankfully, she had the time to spare to talk with me at least an hour or two every day. All the other time, she was training. But I wasn't ready to join her, so I only watched from a distance. I enjoyed watching her do such amazing, incredible things . . . like walking on water, and using atomic energy spheres that she made appear out of thin air.

But today was more special than other days. Today, I was going to ask her what the emotion was that I felt. It was too hard to explain, but perhaps that was all she needed to know to tell me what it was. Whatever it was, I knew she was somehow directly associated with it. Perhaps that was only because she was the one who inserted the Overrider chip into my Pak, but then again, perhaps it was something more.

I often thought about the two of us being together for some reason. And I enjoyed the daydreams very much. When I should have been paying attention to a lesson Dib was giving, I had been staring off into the clouds thinking of her. It was so strange, how I had been with her for a while but never noticed her physical beauty. Her hologram was the most amazing, beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. I longed to know what she really looked like . . .

I never did remove the sleep program I designed. I never did destroy it as I said I would. Last night when I was lying on the ground looking up at the stars, I must have fallen asleep; I began dreaming. I suddenly was back on Irk in that dark tunnel place. Jiss was there as well, as was Lonny, Jewel, and Kan. Only, it was not the same as the memory chip had displayed. I was having trouble recalling all of the important details, but I _did_ know that, for the time she and I were alone together, Jiss did something strange that made no sense at all.

As the dream went, I was sitting on the ground, as was she, and she leaned close to me and our lips touched for a moment. Then she leaned back again and did nothing more. I also recalled the even stranger portion of the dream: I stuck my tongue out and it somehow wrapped all the way around her, causing her to levitate and glow bright blue. That was about when the dream cut off, because I awoke to a piercing alarm that always reminded They Fight it was sunrise and it was time to begin training. Dreams are very weird things . . .

Currently, I was sitting atop one of the large rocks about fifty or so meters from the edge of the water, watching seven members of They Fight trying to work the Pak Tech trick Jiss had. A couple of them had gotten a few feet without falling in. How? I didn't know. They didn't have Paks; they had only these small, crystal cubes strapped around their waste like a belt. Jiss was among them, and she had somehow managed to walk on top of the water . . . on her hands. She had made it all the way to the other side and back without getting one drop on her. She was so incredible.

Rather bored, I suppose, I sighed and let my antennae fall to the sides of my head. But I still watched Jiss perform and show off with superior grace and agility, enjoying witnessing her fearless, awe-striking talent. True: her hologram was what I saw doing all this, but also true was that the hologram followed her exact movements down to the tiniest twitch. She was the one in charge of it.

She was beautiful. Or, at least, her hologram was. But I believed that truly, deep down in her heart, _she_ was beautiful as well. And not only her appearance, but also her personality, physical talent, and intellect. She knew just how to work her Pak better than any Irken alive, which combined both her mental and physical abilities. It had been proven that Irkens who could control their Paks with such excellence as her were superior even to the Tallest. Or . . . at least it should have been. Because she thought much more logically than Tallest Red and Purple combined. Not that I would have enough courage to say that to their faces, or even hers . . .

I couldn't wait to talk to her later, during the mid-day break.

-----

"So, Zim, what do you want to ask me about?" It was mid-day. The sun was high above us behind the smog, making our pale shadows more visible than usual. We were sitting before each other, in the sand near the pond. The shimmering water reflected the dulled sun's ultraviolet rays and colors of the gray sky back into space at all angles. I had learned to like that pond, even though I almost drowned in it. I wasn't completely sure why I liked it so much; I just did. I found it beautiful.

For a moment it was as if I had not heard her; the way I stared at the shimmering ripples created by a slight breeze that swept past us -providing more discomfort than was necessary on a painfully cold day such as this- kept me entranced. Unpredictable was the Earth's weather now, due to the constantly changing amount of chemicals in the intoxicated air. It could possibly be the middle of summer, for all I knew. Of course, Jiss claimed it was winter, and that was why it was cold. I believed her.

"I . . . I just wanted to ask you about something," I started, my words stumbling over each other. I felt so stupid! I couldn't just say what I wanted to say. Why not? I had talked with Jiss so many times before without having any trouble. Now . . . it was like she was a different person. It was like if I didn't say everything absolutely perfectly, then it wasn't good enough for her. I had to be perfect for her - I just had to be! Now come on, Zim, you can say this. Just ask her what she did to you. Ask her about the new feelings. Ask her why you think she is so pretty all of a sudden.

There was a pause as she seemed to think this over. She looked at me with her beautiful holographic eyes. They were the perfect shade of sky blue . . .

". . . Yes?" she pushed, obviously waiting for me to say more. But how could I? This was so hard. Just say something, Zim. Say something! I _had_ to say something. But what? 'Jiss, tell me why I think about you? Oh and by the way, your eyes are pretty.' I am such an idiot. I . . . I . . . wait. No, I am not! Have I forgotten all that I have done in the past? I've wrestled many creatures _ten times_ my size to the ground to retrieve the smallest of objects. I have had to use my scientifical intellect to devise blueprints and create things no human could ever even think up. I have done the impossible, survived death, and lived through drowning. I could talk to one person _easily!_ There was nothing hard about talking at all.

I looked Jiss right in the eyes and gulped. Perhaps talking was its own challenge when trying to be done right. This was _indeed_ harder than I had ever thought possible. Merely talking had become one of the hardest tasks in Universe Three Seven Three. Or _any_ of the Universes, for that matter. As I sat in front of her and thought about how to approach the subject, I felt a few beads of sweat slide down my skin, around my eyes and past my lips until they dripped off my chin and fell to the ground. I felt some sort of strange feeling bubbling in my stomach. Not nausea, as I would have guessed before, but something else. Something different. It was not exactly painful or in any way harmful, but it was more . . . rather enjoyable, actually.

"You . . . you did something to my Pak the other day, and I . . . I feel different. There's this emotion, but I can't place what it is. And it . . . um, you . . . me . . ." My words were completely scrambled. I was making a fool of myself, it seemed. I kept telling my brain what to say, but out of my mouth came something different. My voice seemed to have a mind of its own. And the feeling in my stomach had magnified itself. There was something wrong with me! That _had_ to be it. The feeling was something related to some sort of parasite, or disease that came from Earth's hideous wilderness life. I must have fallen ill without knowing it. I was sick! I was sick!

"Zim, are you okay?" Jiss asked me, a slightly concerned expression on her face. "You look a little nauseous. Are you sure you're completely recovered from inhaling the water?" Frankly, no I was not. I felt horrible. But it wasn't the same as the first couple of days after I had been rescued from the pond. It wasn't exactly worse, either, but it definitely wasn't better. It was just . . . different. What was I going to say? How was I going to say it? Was she going to like the way I said it, or laugh at me? If she laughed at me, I would never be the same. There had to be something I could do. Think, Zim. Think! My mind was blank. No ideas at all. Only Jiss . . .

"Yes," I answered bluntly, still trying to figure out what to say. "I think so. Jiss, I wanted to ask you . . . well, I . . ." I gulped again. _'Nervous'_ was the word! I felt nervous. But never had I felt so nervous that my stomach felt this way before. It was scary. Maybe I really _was_ sick! Maybe the med team needed to recheck the damage that had been done to my delicate interns. There must be something seriously wrong. Something horribly wrong. I couldn't do this! Talk to Jiss though I am sick, but I am not sure, and the new emotion is strange and the Pak Tech she inserted has something to do with this . . .

I started blabbing at five thousand miles per hour.

"I want to know what the strange new emotion is that I feel now also it is somehow associated with you and I believe I am sick because my stomach hurts but your eyes are beautiful what did you do to my Pak the other day and I think I am going to vomit . . .?" I started coughing as she stared at me questioningly. I turned around quickly and threw up on the sand behind me. What was wrong with me? I truly _was_ sick, _wasn't_ I? Something was horribly wrong here. Something was wrong.

I was pretty sure Jiss didn't say anything while I had my back turned to her. Even if she had, I wouldn't have been able to hear her; her voice would have been drowned out by the noises of vomit splattering against sand, accompanied by my somewhat vocal cries in-between contractions. I had my antennae pinned to the back of my head instinctively, as always happens when Irkens are sick to their stomachs. I hated this so much I could not even begin to describe how much I despised it. And the horrible feeling I felt aside from being sick . . . I didn't recognize it, but it was so horrible that I just wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere in the dark and never come out to show my face to Jiss ever again. Ever.

What had I done? Would she think of me the same? What exactly had I said while talking so fast that _I_ even had trouble understanding myself, and the use of any grammatical punctuation in the English language would have been deleted if my statement had been written down? I couldn't recall exactly. Had I said what I wanted? Had I asked what I needed? Had all been made clear, or was she still waiting for me to further explain? Why was I thinking so many questions at once? What was wrong with me? What was _wrong with me!_

I took a deep breath, able to breathe once again. I turned back around to see Jiss smiling at me kindly. She was staring into my eyes not unlike I had stared into her own minutes earlier. How could she look at me this way when I had just blurted whatever I had said to her talking a million kilometers per hour, and then turned around and got sick? If I were her, I would want nothing more to do with me. I hated myself. I was so . . . so . . . I don't know! What word do they have to describe what I was feeling? I was upset, but I was happy because I liked Jiss, but I felt like an idiot and a fool, but I was - I am so confused.

"Zim," said Jiss, stretching out my name while staring at me with a peaceful, happy expression. She was smiling, still. Why . . .? "What I gave you the other day is the best gift anyone could ever receive. What you are feeling is the most simple, most complicated thing in any Universe anywhere. Nobody can describe it completely. On Earth, the humans often refer to it as love." Love? I thought I was incapable of love. "But I would say that after that little incident you are more embarrassed than amorous at the moment. But don't be upset with yourself! You'll adjust. It's new to you right now. It's a little overwhelming, which is why you got sick. You're not used to having to deal with so many things at once."

"So I'm not infected with an illness . . .?"

Jiss laughed a little bit at my oblivion. Just when I was about to question her, she put her arm around me and looked me straight in the eyes. The way she was looking at me was so amazing. It was so beautiful. I had never seen anybody look at me this way before. The tiny sparkling white dots of reflected light that were in both her pupils, the pale indigo blue of her iris, her perfect eyelids slid halfway over her actual eyes . . . so amazing. She was so beautiful. Wow . . .

"No; you're just fine," Jiss answered me. Thank the Tallest I was okay. I noticed she had paused and taken her arm off me as she thought of what to say to me. Hopefully she was going to say she liked me. _I_ sure liked _her._ Had she said I _loved_ her? That was something I had never heard about: an Irken in love. Well, I guess there is a first time for everything in the universe. Me being in love was just another one.

"Do you like flowers?"

"Heh?" I asked, my mind off whatever she had been talking about. Had she been talking about anything? I didn't think so. If she had, I hadn't heard her. But if she had been talking about anything, I was sure it was something wonderful. She always talked about things wonderful. _She_ was wonderful. And she had such moral to everything she said when talking kindly to me the way she did . . .

"_I_ like flowers," said Jiss. She slowly gestured to the area surrounding us. Off in the distance I noticed many tiny flowers blooming, the majority of them around the pond area. And much father, past some of the trees in the forest, I saw what appeared to be a flower that was resting on a very tall tree. It was hard to make out, though, because of the distance. Plus, the tree was surrounded by fog, as was everything these days, making everything that was far away seem to be encased in a blanket of clouds. Yes, I agreed with her; Earth's plant life was very fascinating.

"You see that tall tree way over there?" she asked. I nodded in response. "At the top of that tree is a flower called the Aurora Orchid. I've wanted to see it up close ever since I found out we were near its location. And soon, we will be even closer. But as hard as everybody everywhere has tried, reaching that flower is simply impossible. I have even tried myself, and failed." She sighed and stared off at the flower atop the tall tree, as did I. I thought about the matter. Jiss liked flowers, and she wished to see the Aurora Orchid up close to analyze it further. Nobody had been able to reach it before . . . and even she had failed trying . . .

The perfect way to gain back my dignity after looking like an idiot in front of her! She wanted the flower, and I apparently loved her . . . yes, it was so simple. All I had to do to earn her love was get that flower for her. Unless she already loved me . . . no, no, even if she did . . . she wanted an Aurora Orchid, and I was going to get one for her. I would be willing to die trying!

**-----**

**Author Notes:**

Uh, normally I'd give you all a dramatic "DUN DUN DUUUNN!", but the situation doesn't call for one. It's just a nice doodly little thought in the Irken's head. It's not like Zim's smart enough or talented enough to reach that stupid flower.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. I really appreciate it. I'd like more, if that would be possible, so I know what you want to improve about my writing. Heh . . . I like adding humor in my story. There's not a lot, but the little that there IS . . . I really cherish it. It gives the story character, plus a little comic relief, considering this is a drama.

Random quote: "The best way to laugh when reading a drama book is to go through and realize how the author tried to make it dramatic."

Example: "Oh, John, I love you . . . but I cannot love you, because you slept with Lila."

"Oh, Marsha! Please, dear, forgive me . . ."

"No. It's . . . too late for that."

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! XP


End file.
